Danaher Co. (DHR) to Distribute Quarterly Dividend of $0.32 on April 25th

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share by the conglomerate on Friday, April 25th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27.

Danaher has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.7% annually over the last three years. Danaher has a payout ratio of 12.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Danaher to earn $8.62 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.5%.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $209.86 on Friday. Danaher has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $226.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $247.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $151.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on DHR. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

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.