Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $287.05.

Several analysts have recently commented on DHR shares. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank began coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Raymond James decreased their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price 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.

Danaher Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of DHR opened at $231.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $166.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.10, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $238.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $255.24. Danaher has a 52-week low of $222.53 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given 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 is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Institutional Trading of Danaher

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in Danaher by 15.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 99.0% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,358,706 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $339,473,000 after purchasing an additional 675,952 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 22.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $761,475,000 after purchasing an additional 563,546 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 40,196.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $119,539,000 after purchasing an additional 428,897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher by 30.4% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,705,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $465,617,000 after purchasing an additional 397,671 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.