Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Raises Dividend to $0.32 Per Share

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share by the conglomerate on Friday, April 25th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27.

Danaher has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.7% annually over the last three years. Danaher has a payout ratio of 12.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Danaher to earn $8.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.6%.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE:DHR traded up $1.91 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $209.86. 6,209,935 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,372,101. Danaher has a one year low of $196.80 and a one year high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $151.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $226.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $246.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Raymond James reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays dropped their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $278.00.

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.