Dover Co. (NYSE:DOV) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Dover Co. (NYSE:DOV) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $170.40.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Dover from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Dover from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on Dover from $163.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Dover from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Dover from $140.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th.

Dover Price Performance

Shares of DOV stock opened at $175.84 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $167.38 and its 200-day moving average is $150.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.16 billion, a PE ratio of 23.38, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.27. Dover has a 52 week low of $127.25 and a 52 week high of $178.28.

Dover (NYSE:DOV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Dover had a return on equity of 25.95% and a net margin of 12.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Dover will post 9.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dover Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Dover’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.13%.

Insider Transactions at Dover

In other news, Director Stephen M. Todd sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.19, for a total transaction of $256,785.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 22,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,929,666.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Stephen M. Todd sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.19, for a total transaction of $256,785.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 22,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,929,666.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Brad M. Cerepak sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.71, for a total value of $1,060,260.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,164,699.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,910 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,059 over the last 90 days. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DOV. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Dover during the fourth quarter worth about $167,153,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Dover by 112.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,902,351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $257,597,000 after buying an additional 1,005,470 shares in the last quarter. CI Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Dover during the fourth quarter worth about $126,175,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 879,533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Dover by 2,173.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 817,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $113,997,000 after buying an additional 781,189 shares in the last quarter. 84.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.