Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 15,531 Shares of Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) by 4.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 331,603 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,531 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.47% of Hillenbrand worth $9,219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HI. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Hillenbrand by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,702,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $437,645,000 after acquiring an additional 290,275 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,184,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,408,000 after buying an additional 253,730 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 2.7% during the 2nd 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 period. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Hillenbrand by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 392,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,696,000 after buying an additional 16,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in Hillenbrand by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 247,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,914,000 after acquiring an additional 3,651 shares during the period. 89.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Hillenbrand from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Hillenbrand from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Hillenbrand in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hillenbrand currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.67.

Hillenbrand Stock Performance

Shares of HI stock opened at $32.25 on Tuesday. Hillenbrand, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.11 and a 12 month high of $50.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.33 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $28.01 and its 200 day moving average is $36.00.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $837.60 million for 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 prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hillenbrand, Inc. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.2225 dividend. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. This is a boost from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -29.77%.

About Hillenbrand

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.