StockNews.com Upgrades Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) to Buy

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on HI. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Hillenbrand from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Hillenbrand in a research report on Friday, November 15th.

Hillenbrand Stock Down 1.3 %

Hillenbrand stock opened at $30.63 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a PE ratio of -10.24 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.27. Hillenbrand has a fifty-two week low of $25.11 and a fifty-two week high of $50.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.71.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $837.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Hillenbrand will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hillenbrand

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,873,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,877,000 after buying an additional 66,741 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Hillenbrand by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,739,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,163,000 after acquiring an additional 19,546 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 13.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,184,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,408,000 after purchasing an additional 253,730 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 0.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,602,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,565,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 978,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,215,000 after purchasing an additional 48,390 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.