Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume - Should You 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.

Hillenbrand Inc (NYSE:HI - Get Free Report) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 1,360,003 shares were traded 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 Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on HI shares. KeyCorp cut Hillenbrand from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Hillenbrand from $33.00 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st.

Hillenbrand Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The company's 50-day moving average is $21.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -101.34 and a beta of 1.46.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $598.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $572.48 million. Hillenbrand had a negative net margin of 0.63% and a positive return on equity of 13.53%. Hillenbrand's revenue was down 23.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hillenbrand Inc will post 2.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Hillenbrand

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Hillenbrand by 7.4% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 239,799 shares of the company's stock worth $4,813,000 after buying an additional 16,483 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 266.2% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,671 shares of the company's stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 9,211 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Hillenbrand by 5.2% during the second quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,682 shares of the company's stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 929 shares in the last quarter. Oxford Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Hillenbrand in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $535,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Hillenbrand by 47.8% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,155 shares of the company's stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,315 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.09% of the company's stock.

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.