Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,780 Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,780 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $412,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.8% in the first quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 6,064 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,779,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. New Hampshire Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.3% in the third quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 14,438 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,582,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Connolly Sarah T. boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 0.5% during the third quarter. Connolly Sarah T. now owns 9,599 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,382,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrive Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 0.9% during the third quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,496 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,364,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. 10.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Danaher stock traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $240.34. 3,225,524 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,272,667. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $249.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $229.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.98 billion, a PE ratio of 37.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.87 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 16.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Raymond James upped their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.43.

About Danaher

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.