Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 18,477 Shares of Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 347,134 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,477 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.49% of Hillenbrand worth $13,892,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HI. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Hillenbrand during the 2nd quarter valued at about $93,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,423 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hillenbrand in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $90,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 834,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,384,000 after buying an additional 21,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in Hillenbrand by 15.0% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.09% of the company’s stock.

Hillenbrand Stock Performance

Shares of HI stock opened at $30.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.34. Hillenbrand, Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.77 and a 52 week high of $50.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a PE ratio of 24.92 and a beta of 1.44.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $786.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $818.16 million. Hillenbrand had a negative net margin of 6.67% and a positive return on equity of 14.89%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Hillenbrand, Inc. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.2225 dividend. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. This is a boost from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on HI shares. StockNews.com lowered Hillenbrand from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Hillenbrand in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Finally, DA Davidson cut shares of Hillenbrand from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $54.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.00.

Hillenbrand Company Profile

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.