Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on DHR. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Leerink Partners raised their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.16.

Danaher Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE DHR opened at $233.10 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37. Danaher has a fifty-two week low of $213.61 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $168.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $259.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $260.13.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The business’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. This represents a 18.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Danaher

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Danaher in the second quarter worth $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.