State of Alaska Department of Revenue Increases Stock Holdings in Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in shares of Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) by 3.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Nordson were worth $3,218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nordson by 5,590.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,343,000 after buying an additional 4,808 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Nordson by 61.6% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 31,146 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,224,000 after buying an additional 11,875 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Nordson in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,562,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Nordson by 422.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,947,000 after buying an additional 11,625 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nordson by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 123,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,033,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.11% of the company’s stock.

Nordson Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDSN opened at $250.88 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.36. Nordson Co. has a fifty-two week low of $208.91 and a fifty-two week high of $279.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.35 billion, a PE ratio of 30.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $254.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $247.27.

Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The industrial products company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.08. Nordson had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 17.75%. The business had revenue of $661.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $656.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Nordson Co. will post 9.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nordson Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This is a positive change from Nordson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Nordson’s payout ratio is 38.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nordson

In other Nordson news, EVP Joseph P. Kelley sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.98, for a total value of $749,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,659 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,164,576.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Nordson from $272.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nordson has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $299.00.

About Nordson

Nordson Corporation engineers, manufactures, and markets products and systems to dispense, apply, and control adhesives, coatings, polymers, sealants, biomaterials, and other fluids worldwide. It operates through three segments: Industrial Precision Solutions; Medical and Fluid Solutions; and Advanced Technology Solutions.