Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,290,000 shares, a decrease of 8.5% from the October 31st total of 1,410,000 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 519,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Donaldson from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Donaldson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Donaldson presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.67.

Donaldson Stock Performance

Shares of DCI stock traded down $5.39 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $72.68. 1,893,039 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 496,865. The company has a market capitalization of $8.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.46, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $75.13 and its 200 day moving average is $73.44. Donaldson has a 1 year low of $60.78 and a 1 year high of $78.95.

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $900.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $888.88 million. Donaldson had a net margin of 11.54% and a return on equity of 29.47%. Donaldson’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Donaldson will post 3.63 EPS for the current year.

Donaldson Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Donaldson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.95%.

Insider Activity

In other Donaldson news, President Thomas R. Scalf sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.16, for a total value of $182,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 28,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,072,915.44. This represents a 8.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Tod E. Carpenter sold 30,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.69, for a total transaction of $2,247,502.11. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 256,742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,662,575.98. The trade was a 10.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 167,805 shares of company stock worth $12,310,222. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Donaldson

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Donaldson by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 60,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,503,000 after buying an additional 1,124 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 766 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 1,372.2% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 408.1% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 503 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 66.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,006 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $430,000 after acquiring an additional 2,399 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.