Empowered Funds LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 17.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,644 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,140 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $2,752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,318 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,155,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Conning Inc. raised its position in shares of Stryker by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 2,520 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $907,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. EULAV Asset Management lifted its stake in Stryker by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 119,513 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $43,031,000 after buying an additional 2,469 shares in the last quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA grew its holdings in Stryker by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 29,222 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $10,521,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bright Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Stryker by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Bright Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 17,591 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $6,334,000 after buying an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. 77.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Stryker from $384.00 to $427.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $442.00 target price on shares of Stryker in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Stryker from $409.00 to $413.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Stryker from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $445.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $420.68.

Stryker Stock Up 0.7 %

SYK opened at $388.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.95. Stryker Co. has a 1 year low of $314.93 and a 1 year high of $406.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $377.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $366.15. The company has a market cap of $148.02 billion, a PE ratio of 50.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.96.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.14. Stryker had a return on equity of 23.58% and a net margin of 13.25%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Stryker Co. will post 13.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Stryker’s payout ratio is currently 43.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Stryker news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.24, for a total transaction of $78,993,998.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,642,075 shares in the company, valued at $1,428,567,498. This trade represents a 5.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.