Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys New Shares in Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 8,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Gotham Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Hillenbrand in the fourth quarter valued at $360,000. Expect Equity LLC bought a new position in shares of Hillenbrand in the fourth quarter valued at $1,503,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 154,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,770,000 after buying an additional 5,336 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 140,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,327,000 after buying an additional 21,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 773 shares in the last quarter. 89.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hillenbrand Trading Up 0.9%

HI stock opened at $21.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $22.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.64. Hillenbrand, Inc. has a one year low of $18.36 and a one year high of $46.92. The stock has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.92 and a beta of 1.56.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.06. Hillenbrand had a negative net margin of 7.12% and a positive return on equity of 15.00%. The firm had revenue of $715.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $691.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Hillenbrand, Inc. will post 2.53 EPS for the current year.

Hillenbrand Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.225 per share. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio is currently -23.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HI has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Hillenbrand from $33.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Hillenbrand from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Hillenbrand from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th.

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.