First Trust Advisors LP Makes New $248,000 Investment in Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN)

First Trust Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 10,093 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in Smith & Nephew by 87.6% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Smith & Nephew in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Smith & Nephew by 36.5% during the 4th 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 lifted its position in shares of Smith & Nephew by 391.4% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Smith & Nephew by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,975 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. 25.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on SNN. HSBC downgraded Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group lowered shares of Smith & Nephew from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Smith & Nephew from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Smith & Nephew from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.00.

Smith & Nephew Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:SNN opened at $28.31 on Friday. Smith & Nephew plc has a 12 month low of $23.69 and a 12 month high of $31.72. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $27.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.27. 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 stock has a market cap of $12.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.68.

Smith & Nephew Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 a positive change from Smith & Nephew’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.5%. Smith & Nephew’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.