Brokerages Set Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) PT at $248.43

Shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seventeen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $247.61.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Scotiabank raised shares of Danaher from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $275.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Danaher from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Danaher from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock opened at $198.05 on Thursday. Danaher has a 12-month low of $171.00 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $195.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $141.74 billion, a PE ratio of 42.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.77.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 14.21%. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 396.0% during the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 124 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Sierra Ocean LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 116.9% during the first quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 141 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Red Tortoise LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 175.0% during the 2nd quarter. Red Tortoise LLC now owns 154 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.