Analysts Set Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Target Price at $268.27

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $269.64.

A number of research firms have recently commented on DHR. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen raised their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp increased their price objective 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. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364 over the last three months. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new position in Danaher during the third quarter valued at approximately $683,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,156,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 48.1% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $68,707,000 after buying an additional 96,395 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Danaher by 4.8% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,080 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in Danaher by 0.5% in the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 553,155 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $137,238,000 after acquiring an additional 2,567 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Trading Up 0.3 %

Danaher stock opened at $246.58 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.85. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $248.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $231.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.64 billion, a PE ratio of 41.79, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.36 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

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.