Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Purchases 327 Shares of Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 77,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Nordson were worth $16,239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NDSN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nordson by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,226,757 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,302,887,000 after buying an additional 93,146 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nordson by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,455,956 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $303,918,000 after acquiring an additional 12,590 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Nordson by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 860,430 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $180,036,000 after purchasing an additional 24,030 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Nordson by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 693,627 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $145,135,000 after purchasing an additional 111,538 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Nordson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $142,670,000. 72.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on NDSN. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Nordson from $260.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. BNP Paribas lowered Nordson from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $219.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded shares of Nordson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $255.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $250.20.

Nordson Price Performance

Shares of NDSN opened at $190.36 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.96. Nordson Co. has a 1 year low of $165.03 and a 1 year high of $279.38. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $195.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $615.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $639.40 million. Nordson had a net margin of 16.93% and a return on equity of 19.28%. On average, equities analysts predict that Nordson Co. will post 10.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Nordson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. Nordson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.69%.

Nordson 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.