The Goldman Sachs Group Raises Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Price Target to $250.00

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) had its price objective increased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $225.00 to $250.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

DHR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They set a buy rating and a $295.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Citigroup raised their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $266.00 to $260.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $276.88.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $274.13 on Wednesday. Danaher has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $277.72. The company has a market cap of $197.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.46, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $255.16 and a 200-day moving average of $249.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total transaction of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total transaction of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 84,775 shares of company stock worth $21,802,690. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 7.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $15,009,928,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163,657 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Danaher by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,460,966,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998,161 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Danaher by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,876,694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619,586 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,691,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,781 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,752,382,000. 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.