Wellington Wealth Strategies LLC. Takes Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Wellington Wealth Strategies LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,019 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 6,123 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC now owns 1,334 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Tectonic Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 2,851 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $660,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the period. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 68.0% during the fourth quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 122,861 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $28,452,000 after buying an additional 49,733 shares during the period. Finally, Family Legacy Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Family Legacy Inc. now owns 5,382 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,245,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $266.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $271.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.88.

Danaher Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of DHR traded up $3.90 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $273.99. The stock had a trading volume of 1,955,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,915,406. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $248.82. The company has a market cap of $197.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.78, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $277.72.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The company’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.31%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total value of $2,386,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,352,350. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Danaher news, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 46,377 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.05, for a total transaction of $11,735,699.85. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,441,441.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total transaction of $2,386,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,990 shares in the company, valued at $28,352,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 75,175 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,154 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.10% 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.