U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 686.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,131 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,589 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth approximately $683,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,156,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Cercano Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Cercano Management LLC now owns 202,569 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $46,862,000 after purchasing an additional 20,715 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $68,707,000 after purchasing an additional 96,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in Danaher by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,080 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $764,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of DHR traded up $1.54 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $248.38. 1,787,817 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,914,990. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $259.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $248.48 and its 200-day moving average is $232.27. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $183.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. 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 payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on DHR. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Joakim Weidemanis sold 22,433 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.46, for a total transaction of $5,618,569.18. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 90,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,644,589.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 107,273 shares of company stock valued at $26,813,819. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.