Prudential Financial Inc. Acquires 158,597 Shares of Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI)

Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI - Free Report) by 211.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 233,645 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 158,597 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.33% of Hillenbrand worth $7,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Hillenbrand by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,666,374 shares of the company's stock valued at $266,751,000 after buying an additional 59,311 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Hillenbrand by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,739,689 shares of the company's stock worth $76,163,000 after acquiring an additional 19,546 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,602,744 shares of the company's stock worth $44,565,000 after acquiring an additional 6,682 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,084,818 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,391,000 after purchasing an additional 105,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 782,667 shares of the company's stock worth $24,090,000 after purchasing an additional 14,256 shares in the last quarter. 89.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hillenbrand from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th.

Hillenbrand Stock Down 7.9 %

HI stock traded down $1.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $19.86. The company had a trading volume of 941,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 441,798. The company has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.32 and a beta of 1.46. Hillenbrand, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.10 and a 52 week high of $50.06. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hillenbrand, Inc. will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hillenbrand Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.53%. Hillenbrand's dividend payout ratio is presently -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.