Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) Rating Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Sunday.

DCI has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Donaldson from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Donaldson from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Donaldson Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:DCI opened at $68.49 on Friday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $69.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.34. The company has a market capitalization of $8.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Trudy A. Rautio sold 14,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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. This trade 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 company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Donaldson

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Donaldson by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,717,289 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $856,509,000 after buying an additional 33,139 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Donaldson by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,994,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $269,014,000 after buying an additional 231,424 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Donaldson by 2.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,981,739 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $220,380,000 after buying an additional 73,234 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Donaldson by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,520,586 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $169,804,000 after buying an additional 71,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Management Inc. WI lifted its stake in Donaldson by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 2,209,279 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $148,795,000 after buying an additional 367,383 shares during the last quarter. 82.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.