Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Shares Gap Down to $239.39

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $239.39, but opened at $232.26. Danaher shares last traded at $235.01, with a volume of 728,663 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup upped their target price on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $268.27.

Danaher Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.83, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $248.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.05.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.87 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.90%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Tsfg LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 733.3% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 79.05% of the stock is 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.