Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Analysts

Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-three analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $235.41.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on DHR shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $212.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 10th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Danaher from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Danaher from $236.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Institutional Trading of Danaher

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in DHR. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 2nd quarter valued at about $10,492,520,000. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Danaher by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,681,334 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,345,529,000 after purchasing an additional 472,608 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Danaher by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,316,834 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,108,031,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542,310 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,456,317,000. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,287,949,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded down $2.63 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $228.87. 3,516,366 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,667,069. Danaher has a 52 week low of $160.93 and a 52 week high of $242.80. The stock has a market cap of $160.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $214.04 and its 200-day moving average is $195.97.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 20th. The conglomerate reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.09. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 15.95%. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher will post 8.53 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.42%.

About Danaher

Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) is a global science and technology company that develops and manufactures products, services and solutions for the life sciences, diagnostics and biotechnology industries. Its offerings help researchers, healthcare professionals and biopharmaceutical manufacturers discover, develop, produce and analyze medicines and other biological products.

The company operates through businesses that provide laboratory instruments, consumables, software and services, including technologies for cell analysis, genomics, protein research, bioprocessing and clinical diagnostics.