Danaher Co. (DHR) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 28th

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share by the conglomerate on Friday, April 25th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a 18.5% increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27.

Danaher has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.7% annually over the last three years. Danaher has a dividend payout ratio of 14.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Danaher to earn $8.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.9%.

Danaher Stock Down 0.2 %

DHR opened at $212.36 on Wednesday. Danaher has a 1-year low of $196.80 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $216.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $237.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $151.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.22, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on DHR. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 11.10% 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.