Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Five 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.16.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock opened at $238.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $172.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.59, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $256.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $259.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37. Danaher has a 52-week low of $215.68 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.61%.

Institutional Trading of Danaher

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in Danaher by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 7,949 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,985,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. grew its position in Danaher by 17.5% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 1,284 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 1st quarter valued at about $170,000. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 41,301 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $10,311,000 after buying an additional 1,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PGGM Investments bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the first quarter valued at approximately $459,000. 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.