Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $285.00 to $260.00. The stock had previously closed at $247.84, but opened at $235.02. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Danaher shares last traded at $230.31, with a volume of 3,000,262 shares traded.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on DHR. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group lowered their price target on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.14.

Institutional Trading of Danaher

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 10.0 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $236.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $253.66. The firm has a market cap of $161.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

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.