Spire Wealth Management Acquires 10,176 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 39.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,651 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 10,176 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Danaher were worth $8,237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth about $683,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,156,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Cercano Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Cercano Management LLC now owns 202,569 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $46,862,000 after purchasing an additional 20,715 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $68,707,000 after buying an additional 96,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Danaher by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,080 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 103,984 shares of company stock worth $25,997,094 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $0.07 on Tuesday, hitting $247.33. 130,465 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,726,676. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $259.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $248.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $232.89.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.31.

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.