Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Price Target Raised to $265.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) had its target price boosted by Stifel Nicolaus from $250.00 to $265.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Danaher in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.28.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $245.41 on Wednesday. Danaher has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $270.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $260.34. The firm has a market cap of $181.77 billion, a PE ratio of 41.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $2,521,960.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 97,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,435,240. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 16,172 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.84, for a total value of $4,525,572.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,229,254.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $2,521,960.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 97,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,435,240. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,059 shares of company stock worth $8,400,897. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Danaher by 7.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $15,009,928,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163,657 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Danaher during the 1st quarter worth approximately $676,545,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Danaher by 99.0% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,358,706 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $339,473,000 after purchasing an additional 675,952 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Danaher by 22.7% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $761,475,000 after buying an additional 563,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 40,196.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $119,539,000 after buying an additional 428,897 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

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.