Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $30.17, but opened at $33.62. Hillenbrand shares last traded at $34.61, with a volume of 98,958 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on HI. DA Davidson cut shares of Hillenbrand from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Hillenbrand from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Hillenbrand from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hillenbrand has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.67.

Hillenbrand Stock Up 12.8 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.77 and a beta of 1.38.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.2225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Hillenbrand’s payout ratio is -30.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hillenbrand

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 30.1% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 322,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,959,000 after purchasing an additional 74,527 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 38.4% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 21,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 5,982 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hillenbrand in the 3rd quarter valued at about $248,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $643,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Hillenbrand in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,547,000. 89.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.