Baird Financial Group Inc. Grows Holdings in ResMed Inc. $RMD

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its shareholding in ResMed Inc. by 30.1%, owning a total of 214,794 shares worth approximately $48 million after the purchase.
• The stock received multiple analyst upgrades, raising the target price with UBS Group setting a new target of $325 and maintaining a "buy" rating.
• ResMed announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.60, representing a 0.9% yield, reflecting the company's financial health and commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in ResMed Inc. (NYSE:RMD - Free Report) by 30.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 214,794 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 49,723 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.15% of ResMed worth $48,082,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in RMD. Lido Advisors LLC increased its holdings in ResMed by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 3,951 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $904,000 after buying an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its holdings in ResMed by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 28,430 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $6,502,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of ResMed by 1,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 165 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of ResMed by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 20,099 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $4,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co increased its stake in shares of ResMed by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 1,356 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 54.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John Hernandez sold 2,575 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.10, for a total transaction of $739,282.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,045 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,161,319.50. This represents a 38.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Farrell sold 8,009 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.48, for a total transaction of $2,238,355.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 455,503 shares of the company's stock, valued at $127,303,978.44. The trade was a 1.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,597 shares of company stock valued at $7,301,182 in the last quarter. 0.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. CLSA upgraded shares of ResMed from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of ResMed from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of ResMed from $274.00 to $298.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of ResMed from $248.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of ResMed to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $274.83.

ResMed Stock Performance

RMD traded down $2.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $268.81. 1,804,367 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 936,194. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 3.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.36 billion, a PE ratio of 28.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.85. The company's 50-day moving average is $271.75 and its 200 day moving average is $246.71. ResMed Inc. has a 52 week low of $199.92 and a 52 week high of $293.81.

ResMed (NYSE:RMD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The medical equipment provider reported $2.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.33 billion. ResMed had a net margin of 27.22% and a return on equity of 25.62%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that ResMed Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

ResMed Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 14th. This is an increase from ResMed's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. ResMed's payout ratio is currently 25.24%.

ResMed Company Profile

ResMed Inc develops, manufactures, distributes, and markets medical devices and cloud-based software applications for the healthcare markets. The company operates in two segments, Sleep and Respiratory Care, and Software as a Service. It offers various products and solutions for a range of respiratory disorders, including ApneaLink Air, a portable diagnostic device that measures oximetry, respiratory effort, pulse, nasal flow, and snoring; and NightOwl, a portable, cloud-connected, and disposable diagnostic device that measures AHI based on derived peripheral arterial tone, actigraphy, and oximetry over several nights.