Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to "Buy" Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Sunday.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $263.24.

Danaher Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE DHR traded down $0.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $189.04. The company had a trading volume of 2,996,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,478,070. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $192.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $213.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $135.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.80, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. Danaher has a 12-month low of $171.00 and a 12-month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Danaher's payout ratio is 24.85%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the sale, 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its position in Danaher by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $4,874,000 after buying an additional 2,202 shares in the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 9,597 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $2,203,000 after buying an additional 1,639 shares during the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,044,000. Compass Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $54,615,000 after buying an additional 10,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Channing Global Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,666 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,301,000 after buying an additional 1,698 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.