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

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) had its price target raised by Barclays from $260.00 to $270.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on DHR. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $270.00.

Danaher Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $246.45 on Wednesday. Danaher has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $259.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $248.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $231.08. The company has a market capitalization of $182.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.65 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 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 Trading of Danaher

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $683,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,156,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 48.1% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $68,707,000 after acquiring an additional 96,395 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in Danaher by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,080 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, Keybank National Association OH increased its stake in Danaher by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 553,155 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $137,238,000 after acquiring an additional 2,567 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.