Barclays Trims Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Target Price to $275.00

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) had its target price trimmed by Barclays from $285.00 to $275.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on DHR. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stephens started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $315.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Leerink Partners increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.28.

Danaher Stock Performance

Danaher stock opened at $245.41 on Wednesday. Danaher has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.77 billion, a PE ratio of 41.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $270.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $260.34.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

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 value 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 16,172 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.84, for a total transaction of $4,525,572.48. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares in the company, valued at $8,229,254.88. 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 quarter, insiders sold 30,059 shares of company stock valued at $8,400,897. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.8% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,153 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $538,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.2% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 3.4% during the second quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 1,230 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Trust Co of Kansas boosted its holdings in Danaher by 4.1% in the second quarter. Trust Co of Kansas now owns 1,022 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 5,439 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.