Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Coverage Initiated at Wells Fargo & Company

Stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price target on the conglomerate’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 4.16% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Danaher from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Danaher from $271.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Leerink Partners raised their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.94.

Danaher Stock Performance

Danaher stock traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $268.82. 1,552,474 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,804,287. Danaher has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $259.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $254.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.43. The firm has a market cap of $199.11 billion, a PE ratio of 45.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $2,521,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 97,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,435,240. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tsfg LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 733.3% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the first quarter valued at approximately $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.