Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $278.94.

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Friday, September 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Leerink Partners raised their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Danaher from $271.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total transaction of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433 over the last three months. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the 2nd quarter valued at about $363,000. Caden Capital Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Caden Capital Partners LP now owns 139,068 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $32,172,000 after acquiring an additional 15,313 shares during the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 572,858 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $132,524,000 after acquiring an additional 55,908 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,614,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 1st quarter valued at $4,151,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $276.43 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Danaher has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $267.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $257.03. The firm has a market cap of $204.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

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.