Venturi Wealth Management LLC Increases Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,975 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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 accessible through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on DHR. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $204.22 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $228.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $248.10. The company has a market cap of $147.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.68, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share 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 in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

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.