VCI Wealth Management LLC Takes $730,000 Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

VCI Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,156 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $730,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 540.0% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 160 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $4.59 during trading on Thursday, reaching $245.82. The stock had a trading volume of 2,943,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,786,286. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $249.00 and its 200 day moving average is $230.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00. The stock has a market cap of $182.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.44, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.48%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.36 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 84,132 shares of company stock worth $21,022,795 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $270.00.

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.