Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 15,531 Shares of Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 331,603 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,531 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Hillenbrand were worth $9,219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Matrix Trust Co bought a new stake in Hillenbrand during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 58.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Hillenbrand during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Hillenbrand in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $90,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Hillenbrand during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $93,000. Institutional investors own 89.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Hillenbrand from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com lowered Hillenbrand from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of Hillenbrand in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.67.

Hillenbrand Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of HI opened at $32.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.33 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Hillenbrand, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.11 and a 1-year high of $50.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $28.01 and a 200 day moving average of $36.00.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $793.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Hillenbrand, Inc. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.2225 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.89 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio is presently -29.77%.

Hillenbrand 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.