Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) Lowered to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson cut Hillenbrand from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $54.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, August 12th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Hillenbrand from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.67.

Hillenbrand Trading Down 2.8 %

NYSE HI opened at $32.77 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.96 and a beta of 1.38. Hillenbrand has a 12 month low of $25.11 and a 12 month high of $50.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a 50-day moving average of $28.01 and a 200-day moving average of $36.04.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $837.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $793.38 million. Hillenbrand had a negative net margin of 6.63% and a positive return on equity of 14.86%. Hillenbrand’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hillenbrand will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.2225 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -29.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hillenbrand

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HI. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 0.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,602,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,565,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Hillenbrand by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 318,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,841,000 after buying an additional 48,230 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Hillenbrand in the 3rd quarter valued at about $223,000. XTX Topco Ltd grew its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 13.4% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 15,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,000 after acquiring an additional 1,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 19.3% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 205,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,700,000 after acquiring an additional 33,117 shares in the last quarter. 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.