Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 4,343 Shares of CONMED Co. (NYSE:CNMD)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in CONMED Co. (NYSE:CNMD) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 625,058 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,343 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 2.02% of CONMED worth $42,780,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in CONMED by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $235,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CONMED by 4.1% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 7,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $512,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of CONMED by 5.0% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. Epiq Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of CONMED by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Epiq Partners LLC now owns 13,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $952,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of CONMED by 36.1% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on CNMD. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on CONMED from $74.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on CONMED from $97.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on CONMED from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered CONMED from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $85.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered CONMED from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CONMED currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.20.

CONMED Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE CNMD opened at $61.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 2.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.46, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $68.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.77. CONMED Co. has a 52-week low of $60.74 and a 52-week high of $86.96.

CONMED (NYSE:CNMD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.14. CONMED had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 14.60%. Sell-side analysts expect that CONMED Co. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current year.

CONMED Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 20th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 20th. CONMED’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.87%.

CONMED Profile

CONMED Corporation, a medical technology company, develops, manufactures, and sells surgical devices and related equipment for surgical procedures worldwide. The company offers orthopedic surgery products, including BioBrace, TruShot with Y-Knot All-In-One Soft Tissue Fixation System, Y-knot All-Suture Anchors, and Agro Knotless Suture Anchors, which provide clinical solutions to orthopedic surgeons for the augmentation and repair of soft tissue injuries, as well as provides supporting products that enable surgeons to perform minimally invasive sports medicine surgeries.