Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases New Shares in Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 353,683 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,005,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.62% of Nordson as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Nordson by 18.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 272 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Nordson by 3.5% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nordson by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 7,314 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Nordson by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Nordson by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 3,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $692,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 72.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on NDSN. Loop Capital raised Nordson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $237.00 price target (down previously from $294.00) on shares of Nordson in a research note on Friday, December 13th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on Nordson from $295.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. KeyCorp upgraded Nordson from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Nordson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $256.20.

Nordson Stock Up 1.8 %

Nordson stock opened at $215.31 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $12.25 billion, a PE ratio of 27.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.53. Nordson Co. has a one year low of $196.83 and a one year high of $279.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $213.28 and a 200 day moving average of $236.98.

Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $615.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $639.40 million. Nordson had a return on equity of 19.28% and a net margin of 16.93%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nordson Co. will post 10.2 EPS for the current year.

Nordson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Nordson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.69%.

Insider Transactions at Nordson

In other news, EVP Stephen Lovass sold 1,299 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.79, for a total value of $268,620.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 7,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,519,286.13. This represents a 15.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Nordson Profile

Nordson Corporation engineers, manufactures, and markets products and systems to dispense, apply, and control adhesives, coatings, polymers, sealants, biomaterials, and other fluids worldwide. It operates through three segments: Industrial Precision Solutions; Medical and Fluid Solutions; and Advanced Technology Solutions.