Brokerages Set Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) PT at $278.00

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fifteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $278.00.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $209.86 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $151.58 billion, a PE ratio of 39.75, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $226.71 and a 200 day moving average of $247.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher has a one year low of $196.80 and a one year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly 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 last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 3.4% during the third quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 0.9% during the third quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 3.0% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,531 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.