How to buy Danaher Corporation shares

Danaher Corporation (DHR) is a leading diagnostics & research business based in the US. Danaher Corporation is listed on the NYSE and employs 60,000 staff. All prices are listed in US Dollars.

How to buy shares in Danaher Corporation

1. Choose a platform. If you're a beginner, our share-dealing table below can help you choose.
2. Open your account. You'll need your ID, bank details and national insurance number.
3. Confirm your payment details. You'll need to fund your account with a bank transfer, debit card or credit card.
4. Search the platform for stock code: DHR in this case.
5. Research Danaher Corporation shares. The platform should provide the latest information available.
6. Buy your Danaher Corporation shares. It's that simple.

How has Coronavirus impacted Danaher Corporation's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, Danaher Corporation's share price has had significant positive movement.

Its last market close was $205.81, which is 21.34% up on its pre-crash value of $161.88 and 72.08% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as $119.6.

If you had bought $1,000 worth of Danaher Corporation shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth $753.83 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth $1,278.08.

Danaher Corporation share price

Use our graph to track the performance of DHR stocks over time.

Danaher Corporation shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-09-21.

52-week range	$119.6 - $210.575
50-day moving average	$205.2659
200-day moving average	$173.4738
Wall St. target price	$220.4
PE ratio	52.3106
Dividend yield	$0.72 (0.35%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	$4.682

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All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Capital is at risk.

Is it a good time to buy Danaher Corporation stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Is Danaher Corporation under- or over-valued?

Valuing Danaher Corporation stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Danaher Corporation's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Danaher Corporation's P/E ratio

Danaher Corporation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 52x. In other words, Danaher Corporation shares trade at around 52x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Danaher Corporation's PEG ratio

Danaher Corporation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 2.1454. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Danaher Corporation's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Danaher Corporation's EBITDA

Danaher Corporation's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is a whopping $4.7 billion (£3.7 billion).

The EBITDA is a measure of a Danaher Corporation's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Danaher Corporation financials

Revenue TTM	$18.9 billion
Operating margin TTM	17.48%
Gross profit TTM	$10 billion
Return on assets TTM	3.31%
Return on equity TTM	8.6%
Profit margin	18.35%
Book value	$46.523
Market capitalisation	$146.4 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

How to short and sell Danaher Corporation shares

1. Create a CFD or spread betting account.
2. Search for the stock code. E.g. "DHR.US"
3. Choose your position size.
4. Select "sell" rather than "buy".
5. Confirm your position and keep tabs on it. You may wish to set limits on your position.

There are currently 5.5 million Danaher Corporation shares held short by investors – that's known as Danaher Corporation's "short interest". This figure is 21.9% down from 7.0 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Danaher Corporation shares can be evaluated.

Danaher Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Danaher Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Danaher Corporation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Danaher Corporation shares traded daily (recently around 1.6 million). Danaher Corporation's SIR currently stands at 3.33. In other words for every 100,000 Danaher Corporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 3330 shares are currently held short.

To gain some more context, you can compare Danaher Corporation's short interest ratio against those of similar companies.

However Danaher Corporation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Danaher Corporation shares, or, against the total number of tradable Danaher Corporation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Danaher Corporation's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Danaher Corporation shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0087% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Danaher Corporation shares, roughly 9 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Danaher Corporation.

Find out more about how you can short Danaher Corporation stock.

Danaher Corporation's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Danaher Corporation.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Danaher Corporation's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 32.72

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Danaher Corporation's overall score of 32.72 (as at 08/01/2020) is pretty weak – landing it in it in the 65th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Danaher Corporation is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Danaher Corporation's environmental score

Environmental score: 4.13/100

Danaher Corporation's environmental score of 4.13 puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Danaher Corporation is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Danaher Corporation's social score

Social score: 17.73/100

Danaher Corporation's social score of 17.73 puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Danaher Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Danaher Corporation's governance score

Governance score: 7.86/100

Danaher Corporation's governance score puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Danaher Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Danaher Corporation's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. A high-profile company, Danaher Corporation scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that Danaher Corporation has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Danaher Corporation was last rated for ESG on: 2020-08-01.

Total ESG score	32.72
Total ESG percentile	65.42
Environmental score	4.13
Environmental score percentile	1
Social score	17.73
Social score percentile	1
Governance score	7.86
Governance score percentile	1
Level of controversy	2

Danaher Corporation share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 17.68% of net profits

Recently Danaher Corporation has paid out, on average, around 17.68% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0.35% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Danaher Corporation shareholders could enjoy a 0.35% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Danaher Corporation's case, that would currently equate to about $0.72 per share.

While Danaher Corporation's payout ratio might seem low, this can signify that Danaher Corporation is investing more in its future growth.

Danaher Corporation's most recent dividend payout was on 30 October 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 25 September 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Danaher Corporation's shares ever split?

Danaher Corporation's shares were split on a 1319:1000 basis on 5 July 2016. So if you had owned 1000 shares the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 1319 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Danaher Corporation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 24.2% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Danaher Corporation shares which in turn could have impacted Danaher Corporation's share price.

Danaher Corporation share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Danaher Corporation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $119.6 up to $210.575. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Danaher Corporation's is 0.8573. This would suggest that Danaher Corporation's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Danaher Corporation overview

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The company operates through three segments; Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions. The Life Sciences segment provides mass spectrometers; cellular analysis, lab automation, and centrifugation instruments; microscopes; and genomics consumables. This segment also offers filtration, separation, and purification technologies to the biopharmaceutical, food and beverage, medical, aerospace, microelectronics, and general industrial sectors. The Diagnostics segment provides chemistry, immunoassay, microbiology, and automation systems, as well as hematology and molecular diagnostics products. This segment offers analytical instruments, reagents, consumables, software, and services for hospitals, physicians' offices, reference laboratories, and other critical care settings. The Environmental & Applied Solutions segment offers instrumentation, consumables, software, services, and disinfection systems to analyze, treat, and manage ultra-pure, potable, industrial, waste, ground, source, and ocean water in residential, commercial, industrial, and natural resource applications. This segment also provides equipment, software, services, and consumables for various color and appearance management, packaging design and quality management, packaging converting, printing, marking, coding, and traceability applications for consumer, pharmaceutical, and industrial products. The company was formerly known as Diversified Mortgage Investors, Inc. and changed its name to Danaher Corporation in 1984. Danaher Corporation was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Danaher Corporation is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 11.468% of Danaher Corporation shares are held by insiders and 82.128% by institutions.

• How many people work for Danaher Corporation?

  Latest data suggests 60,000 work at Danaher Corporation.

• When does the fiscal year end for Danaher Corporation?

  Danaher Corporation's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Danaher Corporation based?

  Danaher Corporation's address is: 2200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, United States, 20037-1701

• What is Danaher Corporation's ISIN number?

  Danaher Corporation's international securities identification number is: US2358511028

• What is Danaher Corporation's CUSIP number?

  Danaher Corporation's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 235851102