Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $268.03, but opened at $276.36. Danaher shares last traded at $274.58, with a volume of 451,238 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.12.

Danaher Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $270.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $259.65. 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 company has a market capitalization of $202.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. Danaher’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 16,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.84, for a total transaction of $4,525,572.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,229,254.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 16,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.84, for a total value of $4,525,572.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,229,254.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,659 shares of company stock worth $11,042,433 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the second quarter worth about $363,000. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the first quarter worth about $4,151,000. Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Danaher during the first quarter worth about $5,573,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the first quarter worth about $1,186,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in Danaher by 75.4% during the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 4,360 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,090,000 after acquiring an additional 1,874 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

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.