Eastern Bank Sells 30,021 Shares of Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI)

Eastern Bank trimmed its position in shares of Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI) by 26.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 85,492 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 30,021 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Donaldson were worth $5,758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of DCI. Dudley & Shanley Inc. raised its stake in shares of Donaldson by 5,118.4% during the fourth quarter. Dudley & Shanley Inc. now owns 268,750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,100,000 after acquiring an additional 263,600 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 153,342 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 137,498 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 118,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised 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 valued at $53,964,000 after acquiring an additional 117,874 shares during the last quarter. 82.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Trudy A. Rautio sold 14,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.60, for a total transaction of $946,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,420 shares in the company, valued at $1,785,992. This represents a 34.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Donaldson Stock Up 0.6 %

DCI traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $66.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 281,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 411,763. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Donaldson Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.77 and a 1 year high of $78.95. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $72.64 and its 200-day moving average is $72.68.

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $900.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $888.88 million. Donaldson had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 29.07%. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Donaldson Company, Inc. will post 3.64 EPS for the current year.

Donaldson Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Donaldson’s payout ratio is 31.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on DCI shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Donaldson from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Donaldson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Donaldson from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.00.

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.