Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Invests $549,000 in Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,186 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $549,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DCI. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Donaldson in the fourth quarter valued at $1,311,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 37,032 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,494,000 after buying an additional 1,959 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 157.4% in the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 9,381 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $632,000 after buying an additional 5,736 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,671 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in shares of Donaldson by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 176,444 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $11,884,000 after purchasing an additional 18,764 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.81% of the company's stock.

Donaldson Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:DCI traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $70.44. 340,512 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 567,553. The firm has a market cap of $8.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.98. 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 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.94. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $69.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.35.

Donaldson (NYSE:DCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.04. Donaldson had a return on equity of 28.86% and a net margin of 9.94%. The firm had revenue of $940.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $936.02 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. Donaldson's quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Donaldson Company, Inc. will post 3.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Donaldson Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Donaldson's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Donaldson's dividend payout ratio is presently 40.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DCI. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $69.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of Donaldson in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Donaldson from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Donaldson from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Donaldson from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th.

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.