Marks Group Wealth Management Inc Increases Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,971 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in Danaher were worth $919,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Trading Up 7.5 %

Shares of NYSE DHR traded up $17.80 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $253.88. 3,947,961 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,737,833. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $248.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $188.01 billion, a PE ratio of 39.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. 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. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays increased their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.27.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

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.