Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) Shares Sold by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lowered its holdings in Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,551 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 293 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Nordson were worth $2,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Nordson in the 4th quarter valued at $74,005,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Nordson by 7.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,638,375 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $692,916,000 after buying an additional 177,282 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Nordson by 10.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 514,557 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $135,138,000 after buying an additional 48,720 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nordson by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 193,076 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $40,399,000 after buying an additional 35,494 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its position in Nordson by 422.8% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 38,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,071,000 after acquiring an additional 31,196 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NDSN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Loop Capital raised shares of Nordson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Nordson from $295.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Nordson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. KeyCorp upgraded Nordson from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Baird R W cut Nordson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Nordson currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $256.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Stephen Lovass sold 1,299 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.79, for a total value of $268,620.21. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,519,286.13. This trade represents a 15.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Nordson Price Performance

NDSN opened at $207.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.41, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50-day moving average of $213.62 and a 200-day moving average of $233.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.53. Nordson Co. has a 1-year low of $196.83 and a 1-year high of $279.38.

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

Nordson Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Nordson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.69%.

Nordson 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.