Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Upgraded at HSBC

HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $280.00 target price on the conglomerate’s stock, up from their prior target price of $250.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on DHR. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $268.27.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $235.37 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $248.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $230.05. Danaher has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00. The company has a market capitalization of $174.30 billion, a PE ratio of 36.83, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.87 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802 in the last ninety days. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tsfg LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 733.3% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors 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.