Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in shares of Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund 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’s holdings in Smith & Nephew were worth $5,987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SNN. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Smith & Nephew by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 17,704 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 596 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in Smith & Nephew by 6.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 9,659 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in Smith & Nephew by 87.6% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,480 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Smith & Nephew by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,975 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Smith & Nephew by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 14,759 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 761 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 25.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SNN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Smith & Nephew in a research report on Wednesday. Berenberg Bank lowered Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.00.

Smith & Nephew Stock Up 0.2 %

SNN stock opened at $28.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.24. The stock has a market cap of $12.66 billion, a PE ratio of 13.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.84. Smith & Nephew plc has a fifty-two week low of $23.65 and a fifty-two week high of $31.72.

Smith & Nephew Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.447 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.5%. 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. Smith & Nephew’s payout ratio is 25.00%.

Smith & Nephew 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.