Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

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

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.17.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $202.63 on Monday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $191.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $211.72. Danaher has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The firm has a market cap of $145.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.77.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Danaher

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 29,855 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,853,000 after buying an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $74,551,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC grew its position in Danaher by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 3,088 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.