Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $248.17.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $265.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $196.23 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $140.43 billion, a PE ratio of 38.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.77. Danaher has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $209.51.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 15.81% and a return on equity of 10.80%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 1.1% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 886,002 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $181,630,000 after purchasing an additional 9,926 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 103.7% in the first quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 31,226 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $6,401,000 after purchasing an additional 15,897 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its position in Danaher by 5.3% in the first quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 171,960 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $35,253,000 after purchasing an additional 8,624 shares during the period. eCIO Inc. bought a new position in Danaher in the first quarter worth $131,000. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 26.0% in the first quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 128,535 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $26,350,000 after purchasing an additional 26,494 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

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.

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