Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $282.12.

DHR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Friday, September 6th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Danaher from $271.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $315.00 target price on the stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $274.38 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $270.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $260.02. The stock has a market cap of $203.23 billion, a PE ratio of 46.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Danaher has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.05 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $2,521,960.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 97,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,435,240. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $2,521,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 97,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,435,240. This represents a 0.00 % 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 this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total transaction of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,659 shares of company stock worth $11,042,433 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 7.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $15,009,928,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163,657 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,964,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,490,112,000 after buying an additional 139,989 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,125,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,279,932,000 after buying an additional 52,679 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Danaher by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,398,649 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $849,195,000 after buying an additional 85,081 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 22.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $761,475,000 after acquiring an additional 563,546 shares during the last quarter. 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.