Danaher’s (DHR) “Market Perform” Rating Reaffirmed at Raymond James

Raymond James restated their market perform rating on shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) in a report released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on DHR. UBS Group lowered their price target on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Down 3.9 %

Danaher stock opened at $214.09 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $154.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.55, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher has a 52-week low of $214.03 and a 52-week high of $281.70. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $235.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $253.09.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.77 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DHR. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 3.2% during the third quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,194,000 after acquiring an additional 7,421 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth about $217,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after buying an additional 2,559 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Danaher by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $235,583,000 after buying an additional 11,216 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Danaher

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.