Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Shares Gap Up to $236.08

Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $236.08, but opened at $254.72. Danaher shares last traded at $251.85, with a volume of 1,551,076 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $268.27.

Danaher Stock Up 7.3 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $187.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $248.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.39.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.87 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802 in the last three months. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Tsfg LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 733.3% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. 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.