Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $22.61 Million Stock Position in Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 108,945 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,949 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Nordson were worth $22,613,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NDSN. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Nordson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $74,005,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Nordson by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,638,375 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $692,916,000 after purchasing an additional 177,282 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nordson by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,226,757 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,302,887,000 after purchasing an additional 93,146 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Nordson by 10.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 514,557 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $135,138,000 after purchasing an additional 48,720 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Nordson by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 193,076 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $40,399,000 after purchasing an additional 35,494 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NDSN. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Nordson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Nordson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Nordson from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Nordson from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $219.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Nordson from $295.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $256.20.

Insider Activity at Nordson

In other news, EVP Stephen Lovass sold 1,299 shares of Nordson stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.79, for a total value of $268,620.21. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,347 shares in the company, valued at $1,519,286.13. This trade represents a 15.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Nordson Stock Performance

Shares of NDSN opened at $200.46 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $213.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $232.12. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $196.83 and a twelve month high of $279.38. The firm has a market cap of $11.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.50, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Nordson Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. 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.