Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $1.54 Million Position in Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its stake in Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) by 15.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,838 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Nordson were worth $1,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NDSN. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Nordson by 4.1% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,235,928 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $498,992,000 after acquiring an additional 88,095 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Nordson by 9.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,391,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $310,534,000 after acquiring an additional 117,337 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Nordson by 53.4% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 791,037 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $176,534,000 after purchasing an additional 275,240 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Nordson by 9.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 781,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,418,000 after purchasing an additional 64,707 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in Nordson by 4.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 546,738 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $122,015,000 after purchasing an additional 22,685 shares during the period. 72.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on NDSN. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Nordson in a report on Monday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Nordson from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Nordson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Nordson from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Nordson Stock Performance

Nordson stock opened at $260.40 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $266.44 and a 200-day moving average of $250.19. Nordson Co. has a 1 year low of $208.90 and a 1 year high of $278.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a market capitalization of $14.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.00.

Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.18. Nordson had a return on equity of 20.59% and a net margin of 18.59%. The company had revenue of $633.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $630.77 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Nordson Co. will post 10.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Nordson Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Nordson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.81%.

About Nordson

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.