Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Shares Gap Up on Strong Earnings

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $184.96, but opened at $198.24. Danaher shares last traded at $195.42, with a volume of 1,158,688 shares traded.

The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 target price (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $271.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Danaher

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,130,740,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 24,958.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,870,847 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $383,524,000 after buying an additional 1,863,381 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $391,172,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in shares of Danaher by 4,248.8% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,639,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $376,347,000 after buying an additional 1,601,800 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 32.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,460,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566,658 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 3.8 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $137.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $201.41 and its 200-day moving average is $225.77.

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.