StockNews.com Lowers Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) to Buy

StockNews.com cut shares of Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on DCI. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Donaldson from $80.00 to $79.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Donaldson from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on Donaldson in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They set a market perform rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $69.67.

Donaldson Stock Performance

NYSE DCI opened at $72.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.90. Donaldson has a 1-year low of $57.05 and a 1-year high of $78.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.06. Donaldson had a return on equity of 29.47% and a net margin of 11.54%. The business had revenue of $935.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $941.12 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Donaldson will post 3.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Donaldson Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Donaldson’s payout ratio is presently 33.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James Owens sold 5,210 shares of Donaldson stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.74, for a total value of $373,765.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,276,111.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director James Owens sold 5,210 shares of Donaldson stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.74, for a total value of $373,765.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,276,111.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Scott J. Robinson sold 37,600 shares of Donaldson stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.97, for a total value of $2,668,472.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 37,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,675,710.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Donaldson by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,162 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $860,000 after buying an additional 3,201 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Donaldson during the 4th quarter worth about $57,923,000. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Donaldson by 83.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 382,770 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $25,014,000 after buying an additional 174,193 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Donaldson during the 4th quarter worth about $253,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Donaldson by 138.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 85,139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,564,000 after buying an additional 49,383 shares during the last quarter. 82.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.