1,571 Shares in ResMed Inc. (NYSE:RMD) Purchased by Banque Cantonale Vaudoise

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired 1,571 shares of ResMed Inc. (NYSE:RMD) during the first quarter, valued at around $352,000, as part of its investment strategy.
• Several institutional investors, including Invesco Ltd. and Northern Trust Corp, increased their holdings in ResMed significantly in the fourth quarter, underlining a growing interest in the medical equipment provider.
• ResMed announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.53 to $0.60 per share, marking a positive change and reflecting the company's financial health as it prepares for its upcoming dividend payment on September 18th.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in ResMed Inc. (NYSE:RMD - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,571 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of ResMed by 121.4% in the 1st quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 124 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its holdings in ResMed by 6,250.0% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 127 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new position in ResMed in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in ResMed by 384.8% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 160 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.98% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at ResMed

In related news, CEO Michael J. Farrell sold 8,009 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.72, for a total transaction of $2,056,070.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 455,503 shares in the company, valued at $116,936,730.16. The trade was a 1.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Witte Jan De sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.47, for a total value of $486,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,413,586.82. This represents a 25.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,013 shares of company stock worth $7,238,913 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on RMD shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on ResMed from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on ResMed from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on ResMed from $286.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Mizuho upped their target price on ResMed from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $286.00 target price on ResMed and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.83.

ResMed Stock Performance

Shares of RMD traded up $12.10 on Monday, reaching $291.30. 1,581,283 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,034,621. The company has a current ratio of 3.44, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $42.71 billion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.77. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $256.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $240.39. ResMed Inc. has a 52-week low of $199.92 and a 52-week high of $293.08.

ResMed (NYSE:RMD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. ResMed had a return on equity of 25.62% and a net margin of 27.22%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.08 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that ResMed Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ResMed Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from ResMed's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. ResMed's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.29%.

ResMed 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.