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

Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fifteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $287.05.

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research upgraded Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth about $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth about $40,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock opened at $229.81 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $165.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher has a 12 month low of $222.53 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $236.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $254.47.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.61%.

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.