Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Raised to “Buy” at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has $260.00 target price on the conglomerate’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.76.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $211.09 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $150.87 billion, a PE ratio of 39.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50 day moving average of $220.07 and a 200 day moving average of $240.82. Danaher has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its position in Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

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.