American Century Companies Inc. Sells 1,531 Shares of Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI)

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its position in shares of Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,641 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,531 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Hillenbrand were worth $306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,702,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $437,645,000 after purchasing an additional 290,275 shares in the last quarter. Roubaix Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Hillenbrand during the first quarter valued at about $3,664,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Hillenbrand during the first quarter valued at about $3,285,000. Financial Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 12.2% in the first quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 244,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,274,000 after buying an additional 26,574 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 273,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,110,000 after buying an additional 25,900 shares during the period. 89.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hillenbrand Stock Down 2.0 %

NYSE HI opened at $26.52 on Friday. Hillenbrand, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.49 and a 1 year high of $50.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a PE ratio of 21.92 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business’s 50-day moving average is $32.26 and its 200 day moving average is $40.43.

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

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.2225 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. This is a boost from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Hillenbrand’s payout ratio is 73.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Hillenbrand from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Hillenbrand in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Finally, DA Davidson cut shares of Hillenbrand from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hillenbrand presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.