Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $25.00, but opened at $25.82. Hillenbrand shares last traded at $25.93, with a volume of 27,476 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Hillenbrand from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th.

Hillenbrand Stock Up 4.0 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The company has a market cap of $1.83 billion, a PE ratio of -8.28 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $31.40 and a 200-day moving average of $30.37.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. Hillenbrand had a positive return on equity of 15.00% and a negative net margin of 7.12%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.69 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Hillenbrand, Inc. will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hillenbrand Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. Hillenbrand’s payout ratio is -28.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hillenbrand

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HI. Channing Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Hillenbrand during the fourth quarter valued at about $20,648,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Hillenbrand during the third quarter valued at about $17,178,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,116,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,704,000 after buying an additional 387,048 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hillenbrand during the fourth quarter valued at about $7,782,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 900,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,722,000 after buying an additional 176,482 shares during 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.