Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, StockNewsAPI reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $295.00 price objective on the conglomerate’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on DHR. Citigroup raised their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $269.29.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock opened at $267.85 on Monday. Danaher has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $268.98. The business’s fifty day moving average is $251.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $242.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85. The firm has a market cap of $198.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.40, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.36 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the transaction, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,908,273.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,783 shares of company stock worth $37,536,717 over the last three months. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Danaher by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $15,009,928,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163,657 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,460,966,000 after acquiring an additional 2,998,161 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Danaher by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,876,694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619,586 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Danaher by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,691,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,009,789,000 after purchasing an additional 134,905 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.