Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 82,359 Shares of Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI) by 10.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 719,915 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 82,359 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Donaldson were worth $53,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Donaldson by 359.2% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 349 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Donaldson during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Donaldson by 52.0% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 605 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Donaldson by 72.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 719 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Donaldson by 221.0% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Donaldson news, President Thomas R. Scalf sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were 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 directly owns 28,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,072,915.44. This represents a 8.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Scott J. Robinson sold 83,600 shares of Donaldson stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.04, for a total transaction of $6,189,744.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,791,456.08. The trade was a 68.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,095 shares of company stock worth $6,885,695 in the last three months. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Donaldson Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Donaldson stock opened at $68.02 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market cap of $8.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.77, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $74.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.23. Donaldson Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.79 and a 1 year high of $78.95.

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

Donaldson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Donaldson’s payout ratio is 31.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Donaldson from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Donaldson from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. 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 boosted their price target on Donaldson from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.