Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Rating Increased to Buy at HSBC

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) was upgraded by HSBC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has a $280.00 price objective on the conglomerate’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $250.00. HSBC’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 18.46% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on DHR. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. 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 cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $268.27.

Danaher Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $236.37 on Wednesday. Danaher has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $259.00. The company has a market cap of $175.04 billion, a PE ratio of 36.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $249.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $229.90.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of 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 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802 over the last ninety days. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Tsfg LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 733.3% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.