Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) Short Interest Update

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Hillenbrand Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:HI traded up $0.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $27.84. 100,434 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 386,163. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.45. The firm has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.37 and a beta of 1.38. Hillenbrand has a 1-year low of $25.11 and a 1-year high of $50.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $786.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $818.16 million. Hillenbrand had a negative net margin of 6.67% and a positive return on equity of 14.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Hillenbrand will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.2225 dividend. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Hillenbrand’s payout ratio is presently -30.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hillenbrand

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 19.0% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 159,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,028,000 after purchasing an additional 25,506 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 63,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,200,000 after purchasing an additional 8,799 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 14,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $707,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 244,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,274,000 after purchasing an additional 26,574 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 61,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,088,000 after purchasing an additional 999 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.