Oppenheimer Upgrades Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN) to "Outperform"

Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN - Free Report) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $260.00 price objective on the industrial products company's stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on NDSN. BNP Paribas downgraded Nordson from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $219.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, February 24th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Nordson from $260.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nordson currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $253.17.

Nordson Trading Up 1.7%

NDSN traded up $3.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $212.49. 908,619 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 307,845. The firm's fifty day moving average is $191.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.47. Nordson has a 1-year low of $165.03 and a 1-year high of $266.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $12.09 billion, a PE ratio of 27.03, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.90.

Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $682.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $671.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.34 EPS. Nordson's revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Nordson will post 10.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nordson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. Nordson's payout ratio is currently 40.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nordson

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NDSN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Nordson in the fourth quarter worth $142,670,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Nordson by 156.2% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 621,734 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Nordson during the fourth quarter valued at about $74,005,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Nordson by 676.5% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 246,317 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $51,539,000 after acquiring an additional 214,594 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Nordson during the first quarter valued at about $29,125,000. 72.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.