Danaher (NYSE:DHR) Given New $230.00 Price Target at Jefferies Financial Group

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $260.00 to $230.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the conglomerate's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 19.75% from the company's previous close.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $271.55.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded up $7.10 on Tuesday, reaching $192.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,684,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,348,710. The company has a market capitalization of $137.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $201.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $226.01. 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 has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. Analysts forecast that Danaher will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Danaher

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.

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