Apollon Wealth Management LLC Has $4.70 Million Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 50.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,312 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,799 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth $683,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,156,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Cercano Management LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Cercano Management LLC now owns 202,569 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $46,862,000 after buying an additional 20,715 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $68,707,000 after buying an additional 96,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew 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 valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $0.98 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $247.40. 1,593,955 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,755,556. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $248.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $232.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.25 billion, a PE ratio of 41.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 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 has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.36 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on DHR. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased 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, April 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the 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 approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 107,273 shares of company stock worth $26,813,819 in the last quarter. 10.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.