Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $33.00 price target on shares of Hillenbrand in a report on Friday, November 15th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Hillenbrand from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

Hillenbrand Stock Performance

Shares of HI opened at $31.02 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $31.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.73. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.37 and a beta of 1.43. Hillenbrand has a 12-month low of $25.11 and a 12-month high of $50.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.08. Hillenbrand had a positive return on equity of 14.86% and a negative net margin of 6.63%. The firm had revenue of $837.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $793.38 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. Hillenbrand’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Hillenbrand will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.225 per share. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. This is a boost from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Hillenbrand’s payout ratio is -30.10%.

Institutional Trading of Hillenbrand

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in Hillenbrand in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Hillenbrand in the third quarter valued at $48,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Hillenbrand by 32.2% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Hillenbrand during the 3rd quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Hillenbrand during the 3rd quarter worth $120,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.09% of the company’s stock.

About Hillenbrand

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.