Brokerages Set Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Price Target at $278.24

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $276.57.

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related 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 value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 4.4 %

DHR stock opened at $188.75 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $203.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $229.91. Danaher has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.