New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $22.28 Million Stock Holdings in Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its position in shares of Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 106,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,700 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Nordson were worth $22,279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NDSN. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nordson by 130.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Nordson by 26.1% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in Nordson by 695.0% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 318 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Nordson by 18.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 272 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in Nordson during the third quarter worth $109,000. Institutional investors own 72.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Baird R W downgraded shares of Nordson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Nordson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Nordson from $295.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Nordson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $237.00 price objective (down previously from $294.00) on shares of Nordson in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Stephen Lovass sold 1,299 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.79, for a total transaction of $268,620.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 7,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,519,286.13. This represents a 15.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 1,703 shares of company stock valued at $374,069 over the last ninety days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Nordson Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NDSN opened at $215.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50-day moving average is $213.85 and its 200 day moving average is $238.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.41. Nordson Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.83 and a fifty-two week high of $279.38.

Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by ($0.02). Nordson had a net margin of 16.93% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company had revenue of $615.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $639.40 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Nordson Co. will post 10.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Nordson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Nordson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.69%.

Nordson Company Profile

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.