HighTower Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI - Free Report) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 599,496 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 13,075 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.50% of Donaldson worth $44,186,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Donaldson in the second quarter valued at about $14,288,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Donaldson by 91.4% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 370,756 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $26,531,000 after acquiring an additional 177,078 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted 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 worth $93,770,000 after acquiring an additional 153,342 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC grew its position in shares of Donaldson by 1,554.0% in 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 last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Donaldson by 18.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 754,631 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $53,964,000 after purchasing an additional 117,874 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on DCI shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Donaldson from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Donaldson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Donaldson from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned 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, Donaldson presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Thomas R. Scalf sold 2,500 shares of Donaldson 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 sale, the president now owns 28,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,072,915.44. This trade represents a 8.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Amy C. Becker sold 14,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.89, for a total transaction of $1,056,905.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 41,368 shares in the company, valued at $3,015,313.52. This represents a 25.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 167,805 shares of company stock worth $12,310,222 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Donaldson Stock Down 0.4 %

DCI traded down $0.31 during trading on Thursday, hitting $73.05. 764,494 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 499,826. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The business's 50 day moving average is $75.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.43. The stock has a market cap of $8.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.32, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.04. Donaldson Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.00 and a fifty-two week high of $78.95.

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI - Get Free Report) 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. Donaldson had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 29.07%. The firm had revenue of $900.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $888.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Donaldson Company, Inc. will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Donaldson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Donaldson's payout ratio is 31.40%.

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.