Wexford Capital LP Acquires Shares of 22,000 Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN)

Wexford Capital LP acquired a new stake in Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 22,000 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $541,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Securities Inc. grew its position in Smith & Nephew by 87.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,480 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Smith & Nephew during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Smith & Nephew by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,667 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Smith & Nephew by 391.4% during the fourth quarter. Hara Capital LLC now owns 2,457 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 1,957 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Smith & Nephew by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,871 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $144,000 after buying an additional 1,213 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 25.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SNN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Smith & Nephew from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Hsbc Global Res cut Smith & Nephew from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. HSBC lowered Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Smith & Nephew Stock Up 0.3%

Smith & Nephew stock opened at $28.83 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 2.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.68. Smith & Nephew plc has a fifty-two week low of $23.69 and a fifty-two week high of $31.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $27.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.27.

Smith & Nephew Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.447 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a positive change from Smith & Nephew’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.29. Smith & Nephew’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.20%.

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.