Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Monday morning.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $264.40.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $188.32 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $197.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $218.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. Danaher has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 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 the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. Equities analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents 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 company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 396.0% during the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 124 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Sierra Ocean LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 116.9% during the first quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 141 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 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.