Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) Shares Sold by Bahl & Gaynor Inc.

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. cut its stake in shares of Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,504 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 334 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Nordson were worth $1,152,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in Nordson by 11.4% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 1,542 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nordson by 110.5% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 6,371 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,673,000 after acquiring an additional 3,345 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Nordson by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,143,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Nordson by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 40,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,656,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Nordson by 3.5% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. 72.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nordson Stock Up 1.9 %

NDSN stock opened at $210.44 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $11.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $213.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $237.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.51. Nordson Co. has a 12 month low of $196.83 and a 12 month high of $279.38.

Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by ($0.02). Nordson had a net margin of 16.93% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The business had revenue of $615.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $639.40 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Nordson Co. will post 10.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Nordson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Nordson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NDSN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Baird R W lowered shares of Nordson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Nordson from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Nordson from $295.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Nordson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Loop Capital raised Nordson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nordson has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $256.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nordson

In related news, EVP Stephen Lovass sold 1,299 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.79, for a total transaction of $268,620.21. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,519,286.13. This trade represents a 15.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Nordson Company Profile

Nordson Corporation engineers, manufactures, and markets products and systems to dispense, apply, and control adhesives, coatings, polymers, sealants, biomaterials, and other fluids worldwide. It operates through three segments: Industrial Precision Solutions; Medical and Fluid Solutions; and Advanced Technology Solutions.