StockNews.com Upgrades Danaher (NYSE:DHR) to “Buy”

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

DHR has been the subject of several other research reports. Raymond James cut their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research raised Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Danaher in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.16.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR traded up $2.32 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $238.90. The company had a trading volume of 2,271,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,764,883. Danaher has a 52 week low of $215.68 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $256.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $259.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.59, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in Danaher by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Danaher by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,964,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,490,112,000 after buying an additional 139,989 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,417,342,000 after buying an additional 148,251 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,265,725,000 after buying an additional 116,299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Danaher by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $996,141,000 after buying an additional 535,254 shares during the last quarter. 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.