Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Donaldson from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Donaldson from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Donaldson Price Performance

Shares of DCI opened at $69.41 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $69.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.03. Donaldson has a fifty-two week low of $65.10 and a fifty-two week high of $78.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.29 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.02). Donaldson had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 29.07%. The firm had revenue of $870.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $908.32 million. Equities analysts predict that Donaldson will post 3.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Donaldson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Donaldson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Donaldson news, President Thomas R. Scalf sold 29,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.89, for a total value of $2,032,255.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 28,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,951,929.26. This trade represents a 51.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Trudy A. Rautio sold 14,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.60, for a total transaction of $946,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,785,992. This represents a 34.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Donaldson

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DCI. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Donaldson by 511.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,780 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 3,162 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Donaldson by 17.8% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 3,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Donaldson by 23.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 126,211 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,328,000 after acquiring an additional 23,927 shares during the period. Radnor Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Donaldson in the third quarter worth $4,238,000. Finally, Washington Trust Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Donaldson in the third quarter worth $203,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.81% of the company’s stock.

About Donaldson

Donaldson Company, Inc manufactures and sells filtration systems and replacement parts worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Mobile Solutions, Industrial Solutions, and Life Sciences. Its Mobile Solutions segment provides replacement filters for air and liquid filtration applications, such as air filtration systems; liquid filtration systems for fuel, lube, and hydraulic applications; exhaust and emissions systems and sensors; indicators; and monitoring systems.