Values First Advisors Inc. Has $1.87 Million Stake in Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI)

Values First Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Donaldson makes up approximately 1.1% of Values First Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Donaldson were worth $1,867,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Donaldson by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,957,726 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $772,799,000 after purchasing an additional 43,490 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Donaldson by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,996,071 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $571,026,000 after buying an additional 413,360 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Donaldson by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,900,690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $338,203,000 after buying an additional 132,979 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Donaldson by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,440,692 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $264,843,000 after buying an additional 113,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in shares of Donaldson by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 2,773,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $165,437,000 after buying an additional 62,995 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Donaldson

In other news, Director Willard D. Oberton sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.99, for a total value of $324,950.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,711,641.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Willard D. Oberton sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.99, for a total value of $324,950.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,711,641.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Willard D. Oberton sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.54, for a total transaction of $330,930.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,035,954.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 84,407 shares of company stock valued at $6,142,892 in the last 90 days. 2.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Donaldson from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Donaldson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Donaldson in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $59.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.75.

Donaldson Stock Performance

DCI stock traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $74.65. 405,366 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 585,135. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $69.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.47. Donaldson Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.05 and a 52 week high of $75.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.99 billion, a PE ratio of 24.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.09.

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. Donaldson had a net margin of 10.82% and a return on equity of 28.52%. The business had revenue of $876.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $874.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Donaldson Company, Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Donaldson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. Donaldson’s payout ratio is 32.57%.

Donaldson 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.