Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $269.64.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James upped their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $246.82 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $248.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $231.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.36 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 1.4% during the first quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 2,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 1,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $439,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Berger Financial Group Inc lifted its holdings in Danaher by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 2,517 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $803,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

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.