Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Sets New 1-Year Low After Analyst Downgrade

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $285.00 to $260.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Danaher traded as low as $223.00 and last traded at $223.12, with a volume of 11405161 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $247.84.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.14.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $66,194,000 after acquiring an additional 7,421 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at $217,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after acquiring an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 11,216 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 10.0 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $161.15 billion, a PE ratio of 42.58, a PEG ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $236.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.61%.

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.