Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

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

DHR has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Raymond James restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $263.24.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE:DHR traded up $0.58 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $189.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,266,987 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,464,816. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $214.67. Danaher has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month 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 company has a market capitalization of $135.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.96, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80.

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, topping 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. On average, analysts anticipate that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Danaher's payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $2,130,740,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the first quarter worth $833,941,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Danaher by 24,958.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,870,847 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $383,524,000 after buying an additional 1,863,381 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $391,172,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4,248.8% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,639,500 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $376,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601,800 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.