Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ:NDSN) announced rewards for shareholders in the form of a hike in the quarterly dividend rate on Aug 16. It is worth noting here that the company’s shares gained 3.45% on Aug 16, ending the trading session at $136.84.
We believe that such shareholder-friendly policies of the company reflect strong cash position and belief in profitability.
Inside the Headlines
As revealed, Nordson’s board of directors approved a 9% or 3 cents per share hike in the quarterly dividend rate, which now moved from 35 cents to 38 cents. On an annualized basis, the dividend rose to $1.52 from $1.40 per share. The move marks the company’s consecutive 56th annual dividend increase.
Nordson will pay the revised dividend on Sep 10, 2019, to shareholders of record as of Aug 27.
Sound Capital-Allocation Strategies
The company follows sound capital-allocation strategies, aiming to improve values for shareholders. It uses free resources for the development of its product line, making acquisitions and rewarding shareholders through share buybacks and dividend payments.
During fiscal 2016-2018, the company’s repurchased shares worth $60.6 million while paid dividends totaling $192.7 million. It paid dividends of $40.2 million to its shareholders while purchased $118.1 million of treasury shares in the first half of fiscal 2018 (ended April 2019). We believe that impressive financial performance in the quarters ahead is likely to enable the company to continue rewarding its shareholders handsomely through dividend increments.
Zacks Rank, Earnings Estimates and Price Performance
Nordson, with approximately $7.9-billion market capitalization, currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). The precision dispensing equipment manufacturer is slated to report third-quarter fiscal 2019 (ended July 2019) results on Aug 20, 2019. Organic volume in the to-be-reported quarter is predicted to increase in a low-single digit.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings for the fiscal third quarter is pegged at $1.80, down from the 60-day-ago figure of $1.81. Estimates for fiscal 2019 (ending October 2019) have been revised downward by 0.8% in the past 60 days to $6.11 per share while that for fiscal 2020 (ending October 2020) edged down 1.4% to $6.81.
Nordson Corporation Price and Consensus
Nordson Corporation price-consensus-chart | Nordson Corporation Quote
In the past three months, the company’s shares have gained 4.8% against the industry’s decline of 1.6%.
Key Picks
Some better-ranked stocks in the industry are Graham Corporation (NYSE:GHM) , DXP Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:DXPE) and Roper Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ROP) . All these stocks currently carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
In the past 30 days, earnings estimates for these stocks have improved for the current year. Further, earnings surprise for the last reported quarter was 100% for Graham, 4.29% for DXP Enterprises and 0.99% for Roper.
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