Raymond James Reiterates Market Perform Rating for Danaher (NYSE:DHR)

Danaher (NYSE:DHR)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating restated by equities researchers at Raymond James in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays cut their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research raised Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock opened at $222.56 on Monday. Danaher has a one year low of $221.34 and a one year high of $281.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $235.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.09. 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 firm has a market cap of $160.75 billion, a PE ratio of 42.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released 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 return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

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.