Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,649 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 134 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $382,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Danaher by 1.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,009,789,000 after buying an additional 134,905 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG grew its stake in Danaher by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,601,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,064,477,000 after buying an additional 82,672 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,227,108 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $977,900,000 after acquiring an additional 248,140 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,070,455 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,009,880,000 after acquiring an additional 473,693 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 103,984 shares of company stock valued at $25,997,094. Company insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DHR. Raymond James increased their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Bank of America raised their target price on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.31.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $251.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.62, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $259.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $248.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.30.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.36 EPS. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Danaher 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.