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 Sunday morning.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on DCI. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Donaldson from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Donaldson presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.00.

Donaldson Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:DCI opened at $69.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.28 billion, a PE ratio of 20.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Donaldson has a 52-week low of $65.91 and a 52-week high of $78.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.27.

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $900.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $888.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Donaldson will post 3.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Donaldson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 13th. Donaldson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Donaldson

In other Donaldson news, Director Trudy A. Rautio sold 14,000 shares of Donaldson stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.60, for a total value 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Donaldson

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,717,289 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $856,509,000 after purchasing an additional 33,139 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,994,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $269,014,000 after purchasing an additional 231,424 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,520,586 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $169,804,000 after purchasing an additional 71,707 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Management Inc. WI grew its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 2,209,279 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $148,795,000 after purchasing an additional 367,383 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.81% of the company’s stock.

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.