William Blair Investment Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI)

William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 782,667 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,256 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 1.11% of Hillenbrand worth $24,090,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of HI. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in Hillenbrand by 47.9% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 59,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after purchasing an additional 19,201 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Hillenbrand in the third quarter valued at $627,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Hillenbrand by 32.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Hillenbrand by 3.8% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Hillenbrand in the third quarter valued at $1,413,000. 89.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Hillenbrand from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th.

Hillenbrand Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of Hillenbrand stock opened at $24.96 on Wednesday. Hillenbrand, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.64 and a 52-week high of $50.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.37. The firm has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.95 and a beta of 1.41.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. Hillenbrand had a negative net margin of 7.12% and a positive return on equity of 15.00%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.69 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Hillenbrand, Inc. will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Hillenbrand Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -28.66%.

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.