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 research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Donaldson from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.00.

Donaldson Stock Up 0.8 %

Donaldson stock opened at $72.28 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.06. Donaldson has a 1-year low of $64.06 and a 1-year high of $78.95. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $900.10 million during 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 quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Donaldson will post 3.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Donaldson Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Donaldson’s payout ratio is 31.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Trudy A. Rautio sold 14,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.60, for a total transaction of $946,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 link. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Donaldson

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Trust Point Inc. boosted its stake in Donaldson by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 6,548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Willis Investment Counsel lifted its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 18,874 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,271,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Donaldson during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,960,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Donaldson by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 4,401 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 737 shares during the period. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC acquired a new position in Donaldson in the fourth quarter worth about $61,697,000. 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.