Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) Shares Acquired by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) by 23.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,630 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Nordson were worth $3,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NDSN. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Nordson by 46.6% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,828 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Nordson by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,508 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Nordson by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 237,579 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $62,759,000 after purchasing an additional 6,216 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Nordson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,204,000. Finally, Ossiam raised its stake in shares of Nordson by 340.6% during the 4th quarter. Ossiam now owns 4,587 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,212,000 after buying an additional 3,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of 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 MarketBeat, Nordson currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $299.00.

Nordson Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NDSN opened at $250.31 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $249.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $249.11. Nordson Co. has a 1 year low of $208.91 and a 1 year high of $279.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.34 billion, a PE ratio of 29.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Nordson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a $0.78 dividend. This is an increase from Nordson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. Nordson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.19%.

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.