CONMED Co. (NYSE:CNMD) Short Interest Update

CONMED Co. (NYSE:CNMD) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,800,000 shares, an increase of 21.7% from the February 28th total of 2,300,000 shares. Approximately 9.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 494,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.7 days.

CONMED Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of CNMD traded up $1.47 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.87. 99,609 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 477,342. The company has a current ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. CONMED has a 1-year low of $55.22 and a 1-year high of $80.65. The company has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $63.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.76.

CONMED (NYSE:CNMD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.14. CONMED had a return on equity of 14.31% and a net margin of 10.13%. Research analysts expect that CONMED will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current year.

CONMED Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. CONMED’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CONMED

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNMD. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CONMED by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,574,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,633,000 after acquiring an additional 44,777 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of CONMED by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,810,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,328,000 after purchasing an additional 25,876 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of CONMED by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,577,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,942,000 after purchasing an additional 32,630 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of CONMED during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $68,489,000. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CONMED during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,046,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CNMD. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of CONMED from $97.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target 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. downgraded CONMED from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on CONMED from $74.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.20.

About CONMED

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.