Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Price Target Raised to $270.00

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) had its price objective lifted by Bank of America from $258.00 to $270.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on DHR. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $270.00.

Danaher Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of DHR opened at $246.45 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $248.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $231.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.85. Danaher has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.36 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,908,273.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Joakim Weidemanis sold 22,433 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.46, for a total transaction of $5,618,569.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 90,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,644,589.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Tsfg LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 733.3% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth $30,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by 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.