Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 252,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,782,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HI. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 32.2% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 551 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 284.5% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 21,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 16,274 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 271.3% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 29,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $814,000 after buying an additional 21,384 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Hillenbrand by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 978,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,215,000 after purchasing an additional 48,390 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Hillenbrand by 107.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $763,000 after purchasing an additional 14,253 shares during the last quarter. 89.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Hillenbrand from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th.

Hillenbrand Price Performance

NYSE HI opened at $25.75 on Friday. Hillenbrand, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.64 and a 52 week high of $50.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.20 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $31.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.25.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. Hillenbrand had a negative net margin of 7.12% and a positive return on equity of 15.00%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Hillenbrand, Inc. will post 2.53 EPS for the current year.

Hillenbrand Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.225 dividend. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio is currently -28.66%.

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.