Analysts Set Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) PT at $278.00

Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $278.00.

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Danaher Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $209.86 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $226.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $246.84. The firm has a market cap of $151.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.75, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 period last year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Trust grew its position in shares of Danaher by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. American Trust now owns 5,831 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,339,000 after purchasing an additional 762 shares in the last quarter. RedJay Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $5,739,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $866,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Danaher by 47.2% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,666,144 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $382,463,000 after purchasing an additional 534,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP boosted its stake in Danaher by 38.5% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,202 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,883,000 after buying an additional 2,282 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently 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.