Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Shares Gap Up Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $236.08, but opened at $254.72. Danaher shares last traded at $251.85, with a volume of 1,551,076 shares trading hands.

The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.36 EPS.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on DHR. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DHR. Tsfg LLC increased its position in Danaher by 733.3% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $249.00 and its 200-day moving average is $230.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.19, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

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.