Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

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

Several other research firms have also weighed in on HI. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $33.00 target price on shares of Hillenbrand in a report on Friday, November 15th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Hillenbrand from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

Hillenbrand Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:HI opened at $29.07 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.72 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s fifty day moving average is $30.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.19. Hillenbrand has a 1-year low of $25.11 and a 1-year high of $50.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last announced 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. Hillenbrand had a negative net margin of 6.63% and a positive return on equity of 14.86%. The company had revenue of $837.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $793.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Hillenbrand will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -30.10%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Hillenbrand by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,873,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,877,000 after acquiring an additional 66,741 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Hillenbrand by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,739,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,163,000 after acquiring an additional 19,546 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Hillenbrand by 13.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,184,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,408,000 after buying an additional 253,730 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Hillenbrand by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,602,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,565,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 978,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,215,000 after purchasing an additional 48,390 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.09% of the company’s stock.

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.