RWA Wealth Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

RWA Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 81.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,859 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 4,888 shares during the quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new position in Danaher during the third quarter worth about $683,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 48.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,080 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $764,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 0.5% during the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 553,155 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $137,238,000 after purchasing an additional 2,567 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the completion of 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 7.2 %

DHR stock opened at $253.11 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $259.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $248.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.64. The stock has a market cap of $187.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.61, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.87 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup increased their price target 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. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.27.

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.