Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Stock Price

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Barclays from $205.00 to $215.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the conglomerate's stock. Barclays's target price would suggest a potential upside of 8.93% from the company's current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Robert W. Baird set a $231.00 price target on Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $264.40.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR traded up $0.87 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $197.37. 2,608,666 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,354,979. The company has a market capitalization of $141.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.38, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Danaher has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The business's 50-day moving average price is $200.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $224.27.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

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 transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $13,715,641,000 after purchasing an additional 315,912 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Danaher by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,971,609,000 after acquiring an additional 441,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,934,991 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,821,477,000 after acquiring an additional 992,594 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.