Analysts Set Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Price Target at $278.00

Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $277.76.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. Barclays lowered their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DHR. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $2,130,740,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 15.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $391,172,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in Danaher by 4,248.8% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,639,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $376,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601,800 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Danaher by 32.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,460,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566,658 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $212.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.29, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Danaher has a one year low of $196.80 and a one year high of $281.70. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $219.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $239.67.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.