Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Sets New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) reached a new 52-week low on Thursday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $285.00 to $265.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Danaher traded as low as $223.00 and last traded at $223.12, with a volume of 11405161 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $247.84.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Danaher Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $235.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.45. The company has a market cap of $161.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

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.