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

Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during 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 shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 500,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Hillenbrand Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE HI traded up $0.43 on Friday, hitting $27.98. 9,790 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 385,735. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The company has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a PE ratio of -9.37 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $28.28 and a 200-day moving average of $37.45. Hillenbrand has a 12 month low of $25.11 and a 12 month high of $50.58.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $786.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $818.16 million. Hillenbrand had a negative net margin of 6.67% and a positive return on equity of 14.89%. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Hillenbrand will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.2225 dividend. This represents a $0.89 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -30.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HI. DA Davidson lowered shares of Hillenbrand from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com raised Hillenbrand from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Hillenbrand in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Two 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hillenbrand

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,702,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,645,000 after purchasing an additional 290,275 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 13.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,184,077 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,408,000 after buying an additional 253,730 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 51.3% in the third quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors now owns 225,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,276,000 after buying an additional 76,533 shares in the last quarter. Roubaix Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hillenbrand during the first quarter valued at about $3,664,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hillenbrand during the first quarter worth about $3,285,000. Institutional investors own 89.09% of the company’s stock.

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.