Northstar Advisory Group LLC Has $217,000 Stock Position in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Northstar Advisory Group LLC decreased its position in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 49.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 724 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 702 shares during the period. Northstar Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $217,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in Stryker during the 1st quarter worth about $131,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Stryker by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 673,924 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $180,182,000 after acquiring an additional 9,026 shares during the period. Prudential PLC bought a new position in Stryker in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,444,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Stryker by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $817,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in shares of Stryker by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,140 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $839,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Stryker Stock Performance

Shares of Stryker stock opened at $355.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.52, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.89. Stryker Co. has a 52 week low of $249.98 and a 52 week high of $361.41. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $342.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $305.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The medical technology company reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.60 billion. Stryker had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 22.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.00 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Stryker Co. will post 11.86 EPS for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Stryker’s payout ratio is 38.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Allan C. Golston sold 3,273 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $1,116,093.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,242 shares in the company, valued at $4,856,522. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CAO William E. Berry, Jr. sold 7,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.48, for a total transaction of $2,756,711.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,317,414. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Allan C. Golston sold 3,273 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total value of $1,116,093.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,242 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,856,522. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 212,109 shares of company stock worth $72,845,768 over the last three months. Company insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on SYK. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Stryker from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Stryker from $336.00 to $364.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Stryker from $340.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Stryker from $345.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Stryker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.52.

Stryker Profile

Stryker Corporation operates as a medical technology company. The company operates through two segments, MedSurg and Neurotechnology, and Orthopaedics and Spine. The Orthopaedics and Spine segment provides implants for use in total joint replacements, such as hip, knee and shoulder, and trauma and extremities surgeries.