Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) Sees Large Volume Increase - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Hillenbrand Inc experienced a significant increase in trading volume, with 1,360,003 shares traded on Wednesday, representing a 162% rise from the previous day.
• Despite reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings with $0.51 EPS, Hillenbrand's revenue fell by 23.9% year-over-year, leading to a cautious outlook from analysts.
• Several brokerages lowered their price targets for Hillenbrand, with DA Davidson and KeyCorp downgrading the stock to a "neutral" and "sector weight" rating, respectively.

Shares of Hillenbrand Inc (NYSE:HI - Get Free Report) saw strong trading volume on Wednesday . 1,360,003 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 162% from the previous session's volume of 519,399 shares.The stock last traded at $26.55 and had previously closed at $23.43.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HI. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Hillenbrand from $33.00 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp cut Hillenbrand from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th.

Hillenbrand Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $21.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.81. The company has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of -106.40 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $598.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $572.48 million. Hillenbrand had a positive return on equity of 13.38% and a negative net margin of 0.63%. The firm's revenue was down 23.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Hillenbrand Inc will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hillenbrand

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HI. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 29.0% in the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 2,432 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 6.4% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,063 shares of the company's stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 608 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,039 shares of the company's stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,574 shares of the company's stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 65.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,966 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. 89.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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