Stephens Reiterates Overweight Rating for Danaher (NYSE:DHR)

Stephens reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $315.00 price objective on the conglomerate’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.28.

Danaher Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $256.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $189.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.39, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $270.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $260.43.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Danaher will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $2,521,960.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 97,983 shares in the company, valued at $27,435,240. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 30,059 shares of company stock valued at $8,400,897. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tsfg LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 733.3% in the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Danaher in the second quarter valued at $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the second quarter valued at $51,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.