StockNews.com Upgrades Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) to Strong-Buy

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on DCI. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Donaldson from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Donaldson from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Donaldson Stock Performance

Shares of Donaldson stock opened at $72.28 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50-day moving average of $71.37 and a 200 day moving average of $72.62. Donaldson has a 12 month low of $64.06 and a 12 month high of $78.95.

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

Insider Activity at Donaldson

In related news, Director Trudy A. Rautio sold 14,000 shares of the company’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 value of $946,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,785,992. This represents a 34.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Donaldson

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Scharf Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Donaldson during the 4th quarter worth $61,697,000. Dudley & Shanley Inc. increased its position in shares of Donaldson by 5,118.4% during the fourth quarter. Dudley & Shanley Inc. now owns 268,750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,100,000 after purchasing an additional 263,600 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Donaldson in the 4th quarter valued at about $17,471,000. Algert Global LLC boosted its position in shares of Donaldson by 1,554.0% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 146,346 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,473,000 after purchasing an additional 137,498 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Donaldson by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,448,879 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $180,522,000 after buying an additional 118,156 shares during the last quarter. 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.