Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $253.17.

NDSN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Nordson from $260.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Nordson from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Oppenheimer raised Nordson from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Nordson from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Nordson from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $219.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, February 24th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nordson

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NDSN. Norges Bank bought a new position in Nordson in the fourth quarter valued at about $142,670,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Nordson by 156.2% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,019,658 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $205,685,000 after purchasing an additional 621,734 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Nordson during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $74,005,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Nordson by 676.5% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 246,317 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $51,539,000 after purchasing an additional 214,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Nordson in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,125,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.11% of the company's stock.

Nordson Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NDSN traded up $4.22 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $223.50. 410,657 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 313,518. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.89. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $193.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $209.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.53. Nordson has a 52 week low of $165.03 and a 52 week high of $266.86.

Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The industrial products company reported $2.42 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $682.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $671.36 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.34 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Nordson will post 10.2 EPS for the current year.

Nordson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 19th will be issued a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. Nordson's dividend payout ratio is presently 40.10%.

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.