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

StockNews.com cut shares of Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Thursday.

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

Hillenbrand Price Performance

HI opened at $32.77 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.96 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50-day moving average of $28.01 and a 200-day moving average of $36.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.27. Hillenbrand has a 1-year low of $25.11 and a 1-year high of $50.58.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $793.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. Hillenbrand’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Hillenbrand will post 3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Matrix Trust Co bought a new stake in Hillenbrand in the third quarter valued at $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 58.2% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 712 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Hillenbrand in the 3rd quarter worth about $48,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Hillenbrand during the 3rd quarter valued at about $75,000. 89.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.