Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Upgraded at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $260.00 price objective on the conglomerate’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on DHR. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.76.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $211.09 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $220.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $240.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Danaher has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Danaher

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,130,740,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after buying an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $391,172,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in Danaher by 4,248.8% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,639,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $376,347,000 after buying an additional 1,601,800 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Danaher by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,460,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566,658 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.