Institute for Wealth Management LLC. Increases Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Institute for Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,462 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Danaher by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its position in Danaher by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 6,064 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,779,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Trust Investment Advisors lifted its stake in Danaher by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 2,811 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $650,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. New Hampshire Trust boosted its position in Danaher by 0.3% during the third quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 14,438 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Connolly Sarah T. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.5% in the third quarter. Connolly Sarah T. now owns 9,599 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,382,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $235.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $174.41 billion, a PE ratio of 36.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $259.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $248.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

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.