Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

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 trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Danaher from $271.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Bank of America upped their price target on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $315.00 price target on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.12.

Danaher Stock Up 0.9 %

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $270.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $259.92. The company has a market capitalization of $203.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.05 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total transaction of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,566,486.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,566,486.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 45.8% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 431,005 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $119,828,000 after purchasing an additional 135,442 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 207.1% in the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 2,752 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $765,000 after buying an additional 1,856 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 106.8% in the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $315,000 after buying an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 9.7% in the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,425 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,342,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 3.8% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 3,647 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is 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.