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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on DCI shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Donaldson from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com upgraded 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Donaldson currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Donaldson news, President Thomas R. Scalf sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.16, for a total transaction of $182,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 28,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,072,915.44. This represents a 8.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James Owens sold 5,210 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.74, for a total value of $373,765.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,111.12. This trade represents a 22.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 167,805 shares of company stock valued at $12,310,222. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Donaldson

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Donaldson in the second quarter worth $14,288,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 91.4% during the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 370,756 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,531,000 after purchasing an additional 177,078 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 13.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,310,372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $93,770,000 after purchasing an additional 153,342 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 1,554.0% during the second 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 raised its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 5.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,448,879 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $180,522,000 after purchasing an additional 118,156 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.81% of the company’s stock.

Donaldson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DCI traded down $5.39 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $72.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,893,039 shares, compared to its average volume of 496,865. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.84. Donaldson has a fifty-two week low of $60.78 and a fifty-two week high of $78.95. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $75.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.44. The company has a market cap of $8.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.04.

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. Donaldson had a net margin of 11.54% and a return on equity of 29.47%. The company had revenue of $900.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $888.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Donaldson will post 3.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Donaldson Announces Dividend

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

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.