Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

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

DHR has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

Danaher Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of DHR opened at $247.81 on Wednesday. Danaher has a twelve month low of $192.35 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company has a market cap of $178.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.29, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $265.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $260.75.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.51 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 10.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Danaher

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $267,000. Accredited Investors Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $278,000. River Street Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 2,486 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $691,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 865 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $240,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 802,429 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $223,091,000 after acquiring an additional 39,029 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.