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

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $269.64.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,000,040.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,830 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,798.30. 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 90 days. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Tsfg LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 733.3% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Trading Up 0.1 %

DHR opened at $246.82 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $182.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.83, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $259.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $248.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $231.53.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Danaher Company Profile

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.