Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) Position Lowered by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 33,608 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 115 shares during the quarter. Stryker accounts for about 0.8% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $12,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of SYK. Chicago Capital LLC raised its stake in Stryker by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 195,052 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $70,228,000 after acquiring an additional 5,841 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC raised its stake in Stryker by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 114,889 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $41,366,000 after acquiring an additional 40,784 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA raised its stake in Stryker by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 29,222 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $10,521,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in Stryker by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 16,841 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $6,064,000 after acquiring an additional 1,561 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Stryker by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 182,825 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $65,829,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $422.00 price objective on shares of Stryker in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Stryker in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Stryker from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $442.00 price target on shares of Stryker in a research note on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $421.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stryker

In other Stryker news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were 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 directly owns 3,642,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,428,567,498. This represents a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Allan C. Golston sold 2,458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $383.07, for a total transaction of $941,586.06. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,705,827.65. This represents a 14.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Stryker Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SYK opened at $371.38 on Friday. Stryker Co. has a twelve month low of $314.93 and a twelve month high of $406.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $141.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.86, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $384.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $373.93.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.14. Stryker had a net margin of 13.25% and a return on equity of 23.58%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Stryker Co. will post 13.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.30%.

Stryker Company 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.