Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC Purchases 107 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,661 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $208.10 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $227.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $247.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $150.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 20.45%.

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.