Brokerages Set Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) Price Target at $240.70

Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nineteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $238.65.

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 29th.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, EVP Gregory M. Milosevich sold 1,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.01, for a total value of $274,573.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,060,642.99. This trade represents a 20.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,681,334 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,345,529,000 after purchasing an additional 472,608 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,246,008 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,177,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,487,768 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,973,240 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,656,595,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,221 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,076,796 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,451,380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,517,904 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $2,177,106,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $166.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $118.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.30, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50 day moving average of $184.97 and a 200-day moving average of $209.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Danaher has a 1-year low of $160.93 and a 1-year high of $242.80.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 20th. The conglomerate reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. Danaher had a net margin of 14.89% and a return on equity of 10.91%. The company had revenue of $5.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Danaher will post 8.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 26th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 30.95%.

Danaher Company Profile

Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) is a global science and technology company that designs, manufactures and markets products and services for the life sciences, diagnostics, and environmental and applied markets. The company organizes its operations into business segments focused on Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions, supplying instruments, reagents, software and related services that support research, clinical testing, biopharmaceutical development, and industrial and environmental monitoring.

Products and services in Danaher’s portfolio include analytical and diagnostic instruments, laboratory consumables and reagents, digital and software solutions for workflow and data management, field and industrial monitoring equipment, and service and maintenance programs.