Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Sells 65 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,584 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 65 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total transaction of $2,386,325.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,990 shares in the company, valued at $28,352,350. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 46,377 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.05, for a total transaction of $11,735,699.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,441,441.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total value of $2,386,325.00. Following the sale, 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 148,783 shares of company stock valued at $37,536,717. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.29.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $249.85 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $185.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.35, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $269.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $255.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $246.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be 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 is Friday, June 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

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.