ProShare Advisors LLC Increases Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 98,720 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 10,770 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $22,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,696,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA increased its holdings in Danaher by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Spinnaker Trust increased its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $988,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,983 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $264.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $196.03 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average is $196.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $171.00 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The company has a market cap of $140.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80.

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 company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Equities analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

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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