Utah Medical Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTMD) Short Interest Update

Utah Medical Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTMD) was the target of a large growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 88,800 shares, a growth of 60.6% from the March 31st total of 55,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 29,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Utah Medical Products

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cardinal Capital Management lifted its stake in Utah Medical Products by 25.7% in the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 14,737 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 3,010 shares during the last quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Utah Medical Products by 43.4% in the first quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 4,555 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 1,379 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Utah Medical Products by 127.0% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 13,086 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $931,000 after purchasing an additional 7,320 shares during the period. Ranger Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Utah Medical Products by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 77,591 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $6,535,000 after purchasing an additional 3,180 shares during the period. Finally, Penn Mutual Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Utah Medical Products by 46.3% in the fourth quarter. Penn Mutual Asset Management LLC now owns 53,093 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,471,000 after purchasing an additional 16,810 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.60% of the company’s stock.

Utah Medical Products Price Performance

Shares of Utah Medical Products stock opened at $65.92 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.65 and a beta of 0.12. Utah Medical Products has a one year low of $65.91 and a one year high of $100.59.

Utah Medical Products (NASDAQ:UTMD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $12.33 million during the quarter. Utah Medical Products had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 33.40%.

Utah Medical Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Utah Medical Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on UTMD. StockNews.com lowered Utah Medical Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. TheStreet lowered Utah Medical Products from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th.

About Utah Medical Products

Utah Medical Products, Inc develops, manufactures, and distributes medical devices for the healthcare industry worldwide. It offers fetal monitoring accessories, vacuum-assisted delivery systems, and other labor and delivery tools; DISPOSA-HOOD infant respiratory hoods; and DELTRAN PLUS blood pressure monitoring systems.