Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) Short Interest Up 6.5% in October

Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,140,000 shares, an increase of 6.5% from the September 30th total of 2,010,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 500,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Hillenbrand in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Hillenbrand from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded Hillenbrand from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hillenbrand has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.00.

Hillenbrand Stock Performance

Hillenbrand stock traded up $0.37 on Friday, hitting $27.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 119,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 386,251. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.45. Hillenbrand has a one year low of $25.11 and a one year high of $50.58. The firm has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.37 and a beta of 1.38.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.03. Hillenbrand had a positive return on equity of 14.89% and a negative net margin of 6.67%. The company had revenue of $786.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $818.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hillenbrand will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.2225 per share. This represents a $0.89 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. This is an increase from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio is presently -30.27%.

Institutional Trading of Hillenbrand

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Hillenbrand by 2.3% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 11,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $580,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in 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 last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Hillenbrand by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 51,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,058,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 15.0% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. 89.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.