Avitas Wealth Management LLC Sells 143 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Avitas Wealth Management LLC decreased its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,845 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 143 shares during the period. Avitas Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,785,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $215.05 on Wednesday. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $210.04 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $155.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $234.93 and a 200 day moving average of $252.88. 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 issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 10.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.