Spire Wealth Management Grows Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Spire Wealth Management increased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 39.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,651 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,176 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Danaher were worth $8,237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 32.9% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 7,412 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,839,000 after purchasing an additional 1,833 shares during the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $207,000. Veracity Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 1,477 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth $327,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 9.0% in the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 4,661 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR traded down $0.07 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $247.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 130,465 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,726,676. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $259.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $248.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $232.89.

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. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.36 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James increased their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned 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 $267.31.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Danaher 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 value of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,984 shares of company stock valued at $25,997,094 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

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.