The Goldman Sachs Group Upgrades Danaher (NYSE:DHR) to Buy

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) was upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $260.00 price target on the conglomerate’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 22.85% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $211.63 on Friday. Danaher has a one year low of $196.80 and a one year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $217.46 and its 200 day moving average is $238.68. The firm has a market cap of $151.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.08, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 10.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Danaher during the third quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 79.05% of the stock is 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.