Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Given “Outperform” Rating at Royal Bank of Canada

Danaher (NYSE:DHR)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $277.00 target price on the conglomerate’s stock, down from their prior target price of $299.00. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price suggests a potential upside of 24.38% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on DHR. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.95.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $1.03 during trading on Thursday, hitting $222.70. The stock had a trading volume of 2,174,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,385,345. Danaher has a 12 month low of $223.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $160.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.52, a P/E/G ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s 50-day moving average is $235.89 and its 200 day moving average is $253.45.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 company posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Danaher

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $213,452,000 after acquiring an additional 916,513 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Danaher by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $996,141,000 after purchasing an additional 535,254 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $119,539,000 after purchasing an additional 428,897 shares during the period. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Danaher by 30.4% in 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 last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.