Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $248.43.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Danaher from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Spirepoint Private Client LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,799 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV grew its position in shares of Danaher by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV now owns 27,619 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $5,456,000 after buying an additional 4,703 shares during the last quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. grew its position in shares of Danaher by 19.0% in the 2nd quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 1,982 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $392,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Danaher by 53.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,357 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher in the second quarter valued at $221,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Up 0.3%

DHR stock opened at $193.40 on Thursday. Danaher has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The business's 50 day moving average price is $196.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $205.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company has a market capitalization of $138.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.77.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 15.81%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.