Citigroup Boosts Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Price Target to $290.00

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $280.00 to $290.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the conglomerate's stock. Citigroup's target price would suggest a potential upside of 15.81% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $270.00.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock traded down $2.70 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $250.41. 3,064,441 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,783,958. Danaher has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $249.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.36 earnings per share. Danaher's quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. 10.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of DHR. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $1,752,382,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 18.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $6,185,203,000 after buying an additional 3,905,449 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 214.4% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,073,661 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $711,051,000 after buying an additional 2,096,038 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $3,876,694,000 after buying an additional 1,619,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $3,691,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,781 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.