Jefferies Financial Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Stock Price

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by Jefferies Financial Group from $260.00 to $230.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the conglomerate's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price objective points to a potential upside of 16.53% from the company's previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on DHR. Robert W. Baird set a $231.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $264.40.

Danaher Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of DHR traded up $0.87 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $197.37. The stock had a trading volume of 2,608,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,354,979. Danaher has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70. 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $200.87 and its 200 day moving average is $224.27. The firm has a market cap of $141.06 billion, a PE ratio of 37.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in Danaher by 1,212.8% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the period. Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,044,000. Compass Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $54,615,000 after buying an additional 10,994 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Global Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,666 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,301,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.