Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) Short Interest Up 6.8% in April

Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,560,000 shares, a growth of 6.8% from the March 31st total of 1,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 294,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.3 days. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Nicholas R. Farrell sold 8,542 shares of Hillenbrand stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.02, for a total value of $401,644.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 41,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,972,536.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Nicholas R. Farrell sold 8,542 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.02, for a total transaction of $401,644.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 41,951 shares in the company, valued at $1,972,536.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly K. Ryan purchased 5,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $44.94 per share, for a total transaction of $251,664.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 133,604 shares in the company, valued at $6,004,163.76. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hillenbrand

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of HI. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 829,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,086,000 after purchasing an additional 28,886 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new position in Hillenbrand in the fourth quarter valued at about $756,000. Mcmorgan & Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 21.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mcmorgan & Co. LLC now owns 60,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,568,000 after acquiring an additional 10,735 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,278,168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $350,249,000 after acquiring an additional 623,919 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 466,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,722,000 after acquiring an additional 43,372 shares in the last quarter. 89.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hillenbrand Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HI opened at $41.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a PE ratio of 34.28 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $48.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.78. Hillenbrand has a 1-year low of $37.19 and a 1-year high of $53.76.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Hillenbrand had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 14.73%. The company had revenue of $785.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $801.55 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hillenbrand will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Hillenbrand Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.222 dividend. This represents a $0.89 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.55%.

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.