Blue Whale Capital LLP Grows Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Blue Whale Capital LLP raised its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 39.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 259,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 73,966 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up about 5.6% of Blue Whale Capital LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Blue Whale Capital LLP’s holdings in Danaher were worth $72,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at $51,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $235.84 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.01, a PEG ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50-day moving average of $258.15 and a 200-day moving average of $260.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $215.68 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Wolfe Research raised Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

Danaher Company Profile

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The Biotechnology segments offers bioprocess technologies, consumables, and services that advance, accelerate, and integrate the development and manufacture of therapeutics; cell line and cell culture media development services; cell culture media, process liquids and buffers for manufacturing, chromatography resins, filtration technologies, aseptic fill finish; single-use hardware and consumables and services, such as the design and installation of full manufacturing suites; lab filtration, separation, and purification; lab-scale protein purification and analytical tools; reagents, membranes, and services; and healthcare filtration solutions.