Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Receives $278.24 Average PT from Brokerages

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $276.57.

DHR has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 5.9 %

Danaher stock opened at $180.64 on Tuesday. Danaher has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $204.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. Analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.