Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $285.00 to $260.00. The stock had previously closed at $247.84, but opened at $235.02. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Danaher shares last traded at $230.31, with a volume of 3,000,262 shares changing hands.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.14.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 7,421 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $217,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% during 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 period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $56,233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $235,583,000 after purchasing an additional 11,216 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Trading Down 10.0 %

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 50 day moving average of $236.09 and a 200 day moving average of $253.66. The firm has a market cap of $161.15 billion, a PE ratio of 42.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.83.

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 return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current 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 $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.