44 Wealth Management LLC Sells 59 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

44 Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,272 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 59 shares during the period. 44 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $209.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $151.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.75, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $226.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $246.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 20.45%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

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.