HSBC Upgrades Danaher (NYSE:DHR) to “Buy”

HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. HSBC currently has $280.00 price target on the conglomerate’s stock, up from their prior price target of $250.00.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on DHR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $268.27.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $235.37 on Wednesday. Danaher has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $259.00. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $248.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.30 billion, a PE ratio of 36.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.87 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Danaher 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. 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 Danaher stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Danaher

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Banco Santander S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth about $683,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,156,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $68,707,000 after acquiring an additional 96,395 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,080 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, Keybank National Association OH lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.5% in the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 553,155 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $137,238,000 after acquiring an additional 2,567 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently 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.