Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Donaldson from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Donaldson from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.00.

Donaldson Price Performance

NYSE:DCI opened at $69.33 on Monday. Donaldson has a 52-week low of $66.01 and a 52-week high of $78.95. The company has a market cap of $8.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.16.

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $900.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $888.88 million. Donaldson had a return on equity of 29.07% and a net margin of 11.56%. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Donaldson will post 3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Donaldson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 13th. Donaldson’s payout ratio is 31.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Donaldson

In other news, Director Trudy A. Rautio sold 14,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 26,420 shares in the company, valued at $1,785,992. The trade was a 34.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Donaldson

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DCI. Colonial Trust Co SC bought a new stake in shares of Donaldson in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Donaldson in the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Donaldson by 48.8% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 595 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Donaldson by 43.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 597 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 89.6% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 781 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the period. 82.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.