Inspire Investing LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI)

Inspire Investing LLC lowered its position in shares of Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) by 13.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 13,030 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,962 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Hillenbrand were worth $401,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HI. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in Hillenbrand in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 107.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Hillenbrand in the third quarter worth about $48,000. Tompkins Financial Corp acquired a new position in Hillenbrand during the fourth quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in Hillenbrand by 32.2% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Hillenbrand from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Hillenbrand in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Hillenbrand from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th.

Hillenbrand Stock Performance

Hillenbrand stock opened at $35.01 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.37. The stock has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.71 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Hillenbrand, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.11 and a 1-year high of $50.58.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.08. Hillenbrand had a positive return on equity of 14.86% and a negative net margin of 6.63%. The company had revenue of $837.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $793.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Hillenbrand, Inc. will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.225 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. This is a boost from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio is presently -30.10%.

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.