Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to Buy Rating

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) was upgraded by equities research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $260.00 target price on the conglomerate’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 23.73% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on DHR. Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 target price (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. 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. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

Danaher Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $210.14 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $217.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $239.26.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 10.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Danaher by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $13,715,641,000 after acquiring an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after buying an additional 3,217,631 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,056,996,000 after purchasing an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $2,130,740,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,971,609,000 after acquiring an additional 441,012 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

About Danaher

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.