Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Upgraded to “Buy” at HSBC

HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $280.00 target price on the conglomerate’s stock, up from their previous target price of $250.00.

DHR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $268.27.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $239.39 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $177.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $249.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $229.86. Danaher has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.87 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 16.90%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Buckingham Strategic Partners LLC increased its position in Danaher by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Buckingham Strategic Partners LLC now owns 3,050 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $706,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 2,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $719,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. increased its position in Danaher by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $439,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc increased its position in Danaher by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 2,517 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $582,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $803,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is 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.