Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC has increased its stake in Danaher Corporation by 5.3% during the first quarter, holding a total of 304,909 shares valued at approximately $62.5 million.
• Other institutional investors also increased their holdings, with Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG growing its position by 22.8% and Guggenheim Capital LLC by 4.5% in the fourth quarter.
• Danaher reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.80, surpassing analysts' estimates and reflecting a 3.4% increase in revenue compared to the same period last year.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 5.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 304,909 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 15,267 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $62,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its position in Danaher by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 192,731 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $44,241,000 after buying an additional 35,730 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 1,177 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its position in Danaher by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 1,790 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $420,000. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its position in Danaher by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 25,112 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $5,764,000 after buying an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Danaher Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of DHR opened at $209.28 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $199.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $200.40. Danaher Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $279.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.62. The firm has a market cap of $149.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.53, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.73.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.16. Danaher had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $225.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $247.61.

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.

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