Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. cut its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,516 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 5,275 shares during the period. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $7,003,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Danaher by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $13,715,641,000 after acquiring an additional 315,912 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $3,056,996,000 after acquiring an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Danaher by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,971,609,000 after acquiring an additional 441,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in Danaher by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,460,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566,658 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Thursday, January 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $264.40.

Danaher Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE DHR traded down $2.34 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $196.99. 1,869,255 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,354,266. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company has a market cap of $140.98 billion, a PE ratio of 37.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $200.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.12.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. Research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a positive change from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Danaher's payout ratio is 24.85%.

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.