Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Raises Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. grew its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 34.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,603 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $650,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tsfg LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 733.3% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $0.16 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $246.66. The stock had a trading volume of 3,940,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,785,271. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $248.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $231.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $182.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.81, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 18.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on DHR shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Raymond James upped 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. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.64.

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.