Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Stake in Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 10,673 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $719,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 94.5% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,745 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,334 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 470,602 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $31,695,000 after acquiring an additional 31,064 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 574,146 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $38,669,000 after acquiring an additional 158,487 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 1,447.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 42,398 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,856,000 after acquiring an additional 39,659 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 64,501 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,344,000 after acquiring an additional 13,620 shares during the period. 82.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Donaldson

In other Donaldson news, Director James Owens sold 18,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.02, for a total transaction of $1,159,774.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,246 shares in the company, valued at $1,255,656.92. This represents a 48.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Thomas R. Scalf sold 28,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total value of $1,972,770.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 28,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,961,279.48. This represents a 50.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Donaldson Trading Down 0.3%

DCI traded down $0.18 on Friday, reaching $69.56. 625,938 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 565,925. The company's 50 day moving average is $66.18 and its 200-day moving average is $69.10. The company has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.01. Donaldson Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.45 and a twelve month high of $78.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $870.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $908.32 million. Donaldson had a return on equity of 29.07% and a net margin of 11.56%. Equities analysts predict that Donaldson Company, Inc. will post 3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Donaldson Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from Donaldson's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. Donaldson's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on DCI shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Donaldson from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Donaldson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Donaldson presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.33.

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.