Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 2,400 Shares of Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,297 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Hillenbrand were worth $453,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 58.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 712 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Hillenbrand during the 2nd quarter worth about $90,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Hillenbrand in the 2nd quarter worth about $93,000. LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in Hillenbrand by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust bought a new stake in shares of Hillenbrand during the first quarter valued at about $200,000. 89.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hillenbrand Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:HI opened at $26.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.98 and a beta of 1.38. 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 fifty day moving average of $30.30 and a 200 day moving average of $39.35. Hillenbrand, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.11 and a 52 week high of $50.58.

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

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.2225 per share. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Hillenbrand’s payout ratio is presently 73.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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