Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Nordson were worth $607,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NDSN. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Nordson by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 4,147 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nordson during the 3rd quarter valued at about $209,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Nordson by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 6,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,665,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nordson by 130.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN increased its stake in shares of Nordson by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 2,060 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nordson

In other Nordson news, EVP Stephen Lovass sold 1,299 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,519,286.13. This represents a 15.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 1,703 shares of company stock valued at $374,069 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NDSN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Baird R W downgraded shares of Nordson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $237.00 target price (down previously from $294.00) on shares of Nordson in a report on Friday, December 13th. Loop Capital upgraded Nordson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. DA Davidson decreased their target price on Nordson from $295.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Nordson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.25.

Nordson Stock Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ NDSN opened at $219.52 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $12.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.95. Nordson Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.83 and a fifty-two week high of $279.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $214.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $239.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The industrial products company reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $744.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $736.83 million. Nordson had a return on equity of 19.87% and a net margin of 17.37%. Nordson’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nordson Co. will post 10.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nordson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Nordson’s payout ratio is 38.47%.

About Nordson

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.