Cerity Partners LLC Invests $756,000 in Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI)

Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 15,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $756,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 8.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,278,168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $350,249,000 after purchasing an additional 623,919 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Hillenbrand by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,601,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,074,000 after acquiring an additional 426,077 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Hillenbrand by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 424,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,972,000 after acquiring an additional 73,759 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Hillenbrand by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,754,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,159,000 after acquiring an additional 50,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC purchased a new position in Hillenbrand during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,035,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.09% of the company’s stock.

Hillenbrand Price Performance

NYSE HI opened at $49.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.53. Hillenbrand, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.19 and a 52-week high of $53.76.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $773.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $776.40 million. Hillenbrand had a net margin of 18.39% and a return on equity of 14.65%. Equities research analysts predict that Hillenbrand, Inc. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hillenbrand Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.222 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.89 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Hillenbrand’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.53%.

Insider Transactions at Hillenbrand

In other news, CFO Robert M. Vanhimbergen purchased 11,319 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $45.23 per share, with a total value of $511,958.37. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 34,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,563,103.57. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Hillenbrand news, VP Nicholas R. Farrell sold 8,542 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.02, for a total transaction of $401,644.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 41,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,972,536.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Robert M. Vanhimbergen purchased 11,319 shares of Hillenbrand stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $45.23 per share, with a total value of $511,958.37. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 34,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,563,103.57. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hillenbrand Company Profile

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.