Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and sixteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $248.17.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Wolfe Research cut their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Leerink Partners lifted their price target on Danaher from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Danaher Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $196.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $140.43 billion, a PE ratio of 38.10, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $193.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $209.51. Danaher has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 15.81%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,981,088 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $12,296,123,000 after purchasing an additional 230,966 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Danaher by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,592,211 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,016,404,000 after buying an additional 612,154 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $2,130,740,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,783,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,800,614,000 after purchasing an additional 194,466 shares in the last quarter. 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.