Summit Global Investments Buys Shares of 17,628 Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN)

Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in shares of Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 17,628 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $433,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Smith & Nephew by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 2,032,016 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $49,947,000 after buying an additional 792,829 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Smith & Nephew in the third quarter valued at about $7,200,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Smith & Nephew during the fourth quarter worth about $4,992,000. ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new position in Smith & Nephew during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,847,000. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its stake in Smith & Nephew by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,363,039 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,504,000 after purchasing an additional 138,994 shares in the last quarter. 25.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SNN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Smith & Nephew in a research note on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group lowered shares of Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.00.

Smith & Nephew Stock Down 0.4 %

SNN stock opened at $28.01 on Tuesday. Smith & Nephew plc has a 1-year low of $23.65 and a 1-year high of $31.72. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.24 billion, a PE ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.83.

Smith & Nephew Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.447 dividend. This is an increase from Smith & Nephew’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.29. This represents a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Smith & Nephew’s payout ratio is currently 41.20%.

About Smith & Nephew

Smith & Nephew plc engages in the development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of medical devices. It operates through the following segments: Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine and ENT, and Advanced Wound Management. The Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine and ENT segment consists of the following businesses: knee implants, hip implants, other reconstruction, trauma, sports medicine joint repair, arthroscopic enabling technologies, and ENT.