Brokerages Set Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) Target Price at $243.39

Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $243.3913.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DHR. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Danaher from $226.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Redburn Partners set a $220.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $220.00 price objective (down previously from $245.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, October 23rd.

Danaher Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $227.34 on Wednesday. Danaher has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $258.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $208.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $201.97. The company has a market cap of $160.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.88, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.81.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 20th. The conglomerate reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.17. Danaher had a net margin of 14.44% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, September 26th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 26th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 21,776 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.23, for a total transaction of $4,773,952.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 14,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,190,454.19. The trade was a 59.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 5,174 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.42, for a total transaction of $1,088,713.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,625 shares in the company, valued at $552,352.50. This represents a 66.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,248 shares of company stock worth $6,609,663. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,979,503,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the first quarter worth $833,941,000. Viking Global Investors LP increased its position in Danaher by 543.9% during the second quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 2,907,515 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $574,351,000 after buying an additional 2,455,994 shares in the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 56.2% in the second quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 4,965,646 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $980,914,000 after acquiring an additional 1,787,522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 44.5% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,708,578 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $965,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,450,703 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.