New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Position in Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 243,581 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,104 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of Smith & Nephew worth $5,987,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SNN. River Road Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smith & Nephew in the third quarter valued at $38,588,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Smith & Nephew during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,200,000. ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new position in Smith & Nephew in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,847,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Smith & Nephew by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 143,846 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $4,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Smith & Nephew by 172.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 128,854 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $4,013,000 after acquiring an additional 81,500 shares during the period. 25.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Berenberg Bank cut Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Smith & Nephew in a research report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smith & Nephew has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.00.

Smith & Nephew Price Performance

SNN stock opened at $28.97 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.24. Smith & Nephew plc has a 52-week low of $23.65 and a 52-week high of $31.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Smith & Nephew Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.447 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Smith & Nephew’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.29. This represents a dividend yield of 2.5%. Smith & Nephew’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.00%.

Smith & Nephew Company Profile

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.