Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning.

HI has been the topic of a number of other reports. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Hillenbrand from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $33.00 target price on shares of Hillenbrand in a report on Friday, November 15th.

Hillenbrand Price Performance

Shares of HI opened at $29.07 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.72 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $30.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.19. Hillenbrand has a fifty-two week low of $25.11 and a fifty-two week high of $50.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $837.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $793.38 million. Hillenbrand had a positive return on equity of 14.86% and a negative net margin of 6.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Hillenbrand will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. This is a positive change from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -30.10%.

Institutional Trading of Hillenbrand

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HI. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Hillenbrand in the 3rd quarter worth about $627,000. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 19.3% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 205,053 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,700,000 after acquiring an additional 33,117 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Hillenbrand by 284.5% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 21,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 16,274 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 30.1% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 322,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,959,000 after buying an additional 74,527 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Hillenbrand by 4.3% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 392,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,696,000 after acquiring an additional 16,323 shares during the last quarter. 89.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Hillenbrand

Hillenbrand, Inc operates as an industrial company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Advanced Process Solutions and Molding Technology Solutions. The Advanced Process Solutions segment designs, engineers, manufactures, markets, and services process and material handling equipment and systems comprising compounding, extrusion, and material handling equipment, equipment system design services, as well as offers mixing technology, ingredient automation, and portion process; and provides screening and separating equipment for various industries, including plastics, food and pharmaceuticals, chemicals, fertilizers, minerals, energy, wastewater treatment, forest products, and other general industrials.