First Trust Advisors LP Raises Stock Holdings in Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN)

First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN - Free Report) by 676.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 246,317 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 214,594 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.43% of Nordson worth $51,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Nordson by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 514,557 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $135,138,000 after purchasing an additional 48,720 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Nordson in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,553,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Nordson by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 295,962 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $77,723,000 after acquiring an additional 13,184 shares during the last quarter. Southern Style Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Nordson during the 4th quarter worth $399,000. Finally, Clark & Stuart Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Nordson during the fourth quarter worth $4,137,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas downgraded Nordson from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $219.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Nordson from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $255.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Nordson from $260.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $250.20.

Nordson Trading Down 0.6 %

NDSN traded down $1.23 during trading on Friday, hitting $188.22. 219,632 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 301,304. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $198.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.68. Nordson Co. has a 1 year low of $165.03 and a 1 year high of $279.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.96.

Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.08 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $615.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $639.40 million. Nordson had a net margin of 16.93% and a return on equity of 19.28%. As a group, analysts expect that Nordson Co. will post 10.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nordson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Nordson's payout ratio is currently 39.69%.

Nordson Profile

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.