Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Downgraded to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday morning.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James cut 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $229.50 on Monday. 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 has a 12 month low of $207.63 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $165.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.80, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $261.33 and its 200 day moving average is $260.45.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its 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 analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The business’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.51 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. This trade represents a 18.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the second quarter worth $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the third quarter worth about $50,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.