Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Scotiabank

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) was upgraded by research analysts at Scotiabank from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $275.00 price objective on the conglomerate’s stock. Scotiabank’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 34.28% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Argus decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.43.

Danaher Stock Down 0.3%

Danaher stock opened at $204.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.43. Danaher has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $196.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.77.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 15.81% and a return on equity of 10.80%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Danaher

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,981,088 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $12,296,123,000 after purchasing an additional 230,966 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,592,211 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,016,404,000 after buying an additional 612,154 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,056,996,000 after acquiring an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $2,130,740,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,783,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,800,614,000 after acquiring an additional 194,466 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is 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.