Wall Street Zen Downgrades Danaher (NYSE:DHR) to Hold

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $263.24.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $184.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $195.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $215.71. Danaher has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,130,740,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the 1st quarter worth approximately $833,941,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Danaher by 24,958.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,870,847 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $383,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,863,381 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $391,172,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4,248.8% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,639,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $376,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

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.