Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI) Short Interest Up 6.5% in December

Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,320,000 shares, a growth of 6.5% from the November 30th total of 1,240,000 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 602,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on DCI. StockNews.com upgraded Donaldson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 28th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Donaldson from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Donaldson from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.00.

Donaldson Price Performance

Donaldson stock opened at $67.35 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.04 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $73.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.90. Donaldson has a 12 month low of $61.79 and a 12 month high of $78.95.

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.01. Donaldson had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 29.07%. The business had revenue of $900.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $888.88 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Donaldson will post 3.64 EPS for the current year.

Donaldson Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. Donaldson’s payout ratio is 31.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Donaldson news, Director Willard D. Oberton sold 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.37, for a total transaction of $198,099.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,983 shares in the company, valued at $2,053,112.71. This represents a 8.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Thomas R. Scalf sold 4,295 shares of Donaldson stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.33, for a total value of $314,952.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 30,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,261,057.22. The trade was a 12.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,495 shares of company stock valued at $695,951 over the last quarter. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Donaldson by 5.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 439,538 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,394,000 after acquiring an additional 23,758 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in Donaldson by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 304,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $22,449,000 after purchasing an additional 8,154 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Donaldson by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,981,739 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $220,380,000 after purchasing an additional 73,234 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Donaldson by 26.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,327 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,980 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Donaldson by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 19,787 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,533,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908 shares during the last quarter. 82.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Donaldson Company Profile

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.