Dover (NYSE:DOV) Hits New 12-Month High at $179.80

Dover Co. (NYSE:DOV)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $179.80 and last traded at $179.53, with a volume of 608004 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $171.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DOV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Dover from $180.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Dover from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Dover from $177.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Dover from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Dover from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.13.

Dover Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $24.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.13, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $171.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.84.

Dover (NYSE:DOV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Dover had a net margin of 12.52% and a return on equity of 25.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Dover Co. will post 9.07 EPS for the current year.

Dover Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. Dover’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dover

In other news, CFO Brad M. Cerepak sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.71, for a total transaction of $1,060,260.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,909 shares in the company, valued at $3,164,699.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Brad M. Cerepak sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.71, for a total transaction of $1,060,260.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,909 shares in the company, valued at $3,164,699.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen M. Todd sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.19, for a total transaction of $256,785.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,955 shares in the company, valued at $3,929,666.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,910 shares of company stock worth $4,318,059 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dover

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DOV. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Dover by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,689,136 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $567,426,000 after purchasing an additional 492,577 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Dover by 10.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,670 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $333,522,000 after purchasing an additional 226,646 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Dover by 5.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,724,613 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $240,601,000 after purchasing an additional 89,774 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Dover by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,428,878 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $219,778,000 after purchasing an additional 140,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Dover by 160.2% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,428,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $199,319,000 after acquiring an additional 879,533 shares in the last quarter. 84.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Dover

Dover Corporation provides equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services worldwide. The company's Engineered Products segment provides various equipment, component, software, solution, and services that are used in vehicle aftermarket, waste handling, industrial automation, aerospace and defense, industrial winch and hoist, and fluid dispensing end-market.