Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Given New $240.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) had its target price cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $280.00 to $240.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price target on Danaher from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $222.56 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $235.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $253.07. The stock has a market cap of $160.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher has a one year low of $221.34 and a one year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Danaher will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DHR. FMR LLC grew its position in Danaher by 15.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Danaher by 6,862.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $213,452,000 after buying an additional 916,513 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 17.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $996,141,000 after acquiring an additional 535,254 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 40,196.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $119,539,000 after buying an additional 428,897 shares during the period. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Danaher by 30.4% in the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,705,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $465,617,000 after acquiring an additional 397,671 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

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.