JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd Lowers Position in Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN)

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd cut its stake in Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,300 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings in Smith & Nephew were worth $524,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Smith & Nephew by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 2,032,016 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $49,947,000 after purchasing an additional 792,829 shares during the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its position in shares of Smith & Nephew by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,363,039 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,504,000 after acquiring an additional 138,994 shares during the last quarter. Clark Estates Inc. NY increased its position in shares of Smith & Nephew by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Clark Estates Inc. NY now owns 800,000 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $19,664,000 after acquiring an additional 115,000 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Smith & Nephew by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 535,350 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,159,000 after acquiring an additional 57,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Smith & Nephew by 169.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 508,392 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,496,000 after acquiring an additional 320,054 shares during the last quarter. 25.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Smith & Nephew Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SNN opened at $28.31 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.25. Smith & Nephew plc has a 1-year low of $23.69 and a 1-year high of $31.72. The firm has a market cap of $12.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Smith & Nephew Increases Dividend

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