Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday.

DHR has been the topic of several other research reports. Leerink Partners lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $229.50 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.76 billion, a PE ratio of 43.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher has a 52 week low of $207.63 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $261.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $260.45.

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

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. This trade represents a 18.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in DHR. FMR LLC raised its position in Danaher by 15.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Danaher by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,964,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,490,112,000 after acquiring an additional 139,989 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Danaher by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,125,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,279,932,000 after acquiring an additional 52,679 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 3.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,417,342,000 after purchasing an additional 148,251 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 2.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,265,725,000 after purchasing an additional 116,299 shares in the last quarter. 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.