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

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

HI has been the subject of several other reports. KeyCorp lowered their price target 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 reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $33.00 target price on shares of Hillenbrand in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $44.67.

Hillenbrand Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HI traded down $0.69 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $30.81. The stock had a trading volume of 478,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 395,684. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $30.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.37. The company has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.30 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Hillenbrand has a fifty-two week low of $25.11 and a fifty-two week high of $50.58.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $837.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $793.38 million. Hillenbrand had a negative net margin of 6.63% and a positive return on equity of 14.86%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Hillenbrand will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hillenbrand

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Hillenbrand by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 392,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,696,000 after purchasing an additional 16,323 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 35,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 15.0% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Hillenbrand by 2.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 834,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,384,000 after buying an additional 21,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in Hillenbrand in the second quarter valued at $90,000. 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.