StockNews.com Downgrades Danaher (NYSE:DHR) to Hold

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

DHR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Raymond James dropped their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

Danaher Stock Down 1.9 %

DHR stock opened at $236.26 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $170.64 billion, a PE ratio of 45.09, a PEG ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher has a twelve month low of $215.68 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $252.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $258.91.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 15.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Danaher by 2.4% during the second 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $1,417,342,000 after acquiring an additional 148,251 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 2.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,265,725,000 after acquiring an additional 116,299 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Danaher by 17.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $996,141,000 after acquiring an additional 535,254 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is 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.