Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Upgraded to Buy at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Bank of America currently has $290.00 target price on the conglomerate's stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $287.95.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR traded up $0.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $234.99. 2,417,903 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,784,963. The company has a market cap of $169.73 billion, a PE ratio of 44.75, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Danaher has a fifty-two week low of $222.53 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $247.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $257.62.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The firm's revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. Research analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Danaher's payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently 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.