Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reduced its position in Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN - Free Report) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 147,145 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 6,211 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.26% of Nordson worth $30,789,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position in Nordson by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 5,075 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,062,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in Nordson by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 761,233 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $159,280,000 after acquiring an additional 4,955 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in Nordson by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 9,432 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,974,000 after acquiring an additional 2,278 shares during the period. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new position in Nordson in the 4th quarter valued at about $168,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its position in Nordson by 129.5% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 6,222 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 3,511 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Nordson from $260.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. BNP Paribas cut 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. Three 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Nordson presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $250.20.

Nordson Stock Performance

NASDAQ NDSN traded up $13.07 on Thursday, hitting $208.81. 241,669 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 302,728. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $191.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $212.47. Nordson Co. has a fifty-two week low of $165.03 and a fifty-two week high of $266.86. The firm has a market cap of $11.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.90.

Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The industrial products company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.06. Nordson had a return on equity of 19.28% and a net margin of 16.93%. The company had revenue of $682.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $671.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.34 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Nordson Co. will post 10.2 EPS for the current year.

Nordson Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Nordson's dividend payout ratio is currently 39.69%.

Nordson Company 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.