Barclays Boosts Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Price Target to $270.00

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) had its target price hoisted by Barclays from $260.00 to $270.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on DHR. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $269.64.

Danaher Stock Up 0.3 %

Danaher stock opened at $246.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $182.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $259.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $248.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $231.16.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.36 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Joakim Weidemanis sold 22,433 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.46, for a total transaction of $5,618,569.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 90,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,644,589.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 106,565 shares of company stock worth $26,641,364. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Founders Financial Securities LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter valued at $218,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Danaher by 540.0% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 160 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 99.5% during the third quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,264 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $810,000 after acquiring an additional 1,628 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its position in Danaher by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 8,446 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,118 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

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.