Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $310.00 to $300.00. The stock had previously closed at $247.84, but opened at $235.02. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Danaher shares last traded at $230.31, with a volume of 3,000,262 shares traded.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on DHR. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research raised Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.81.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quilter Plc grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 62,371 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $14,317,000 after buying an additional 2,746 shares in the last quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $829,000. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $971,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $193,000. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 17,480 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,013,000 after acquiring an additional 1,754 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $236.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $253.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.59, a PEG ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 20.61%.

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.