Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.32

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given 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 0.62%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27.

Danaher has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.7% annually over the last three years. Danaher has a payout ratio of 12.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Performance

DHR traded up $3.12 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $208.10. The stock had a trading volume of 4,705,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,524,800. The stock has a market cap of $150.31 billion, a PE ratio of 39.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $227.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $247.80.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 11.10% 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.