Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $203.00 and last traded at $203.42, with a volume of 7038666 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $206.76.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $232.72 and a 200-day moving average of $251.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.92 billion, a PE ratio of 38.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.45%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $66,194,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at about $217,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in Danaher by 1,212.8% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $636,000 after buying an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its stake in Danaher by 1.2% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after acquiring an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $235,583,000 after acquiring an additional 11,216 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

About Danaher

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.