Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Lowered to Hold Rating 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 published on Saturday morning.

DHR has been the topic of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $263.24.

Danaher Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE DHR traded up $1.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $190.38. The company had a trading volume of 2,814,467 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,472,925. The business's 50-day moving average is $193.18 and its 200-day moving average is $214.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $136.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. Danaher has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. Equities analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business's 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,005,442. This 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 owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its position in Danaher by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Spinnaker Trust increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $988,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,983 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 8,287 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is 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.