West Branch Capital LLC Buys 255 Shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

West Branch Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 25,500.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 256 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the quarter. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $95,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SYK. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Stryker during the 4th quarter worth about $1,710,744,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Stryker by 43,226.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,074,922 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $772,390,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070,133 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Stryker during the 4th quarter worth about $353,394,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Stryker by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,034,844 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,892,946,000 after purchasing an additional 727,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Stryker by 52,520.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 596,194 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $214,660,000 after purchasing an additional 595,061 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Stryker from $400.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Stryker from $405.00 to $456.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Stryker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $422.00 price target on Stryker in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Stryker in a report on Monday, May 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $427.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.96, for a total transaction of $75,392,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,417,326 shares in the company, valued at $1,288,195,208.96. This represents a 5.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 5.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Stryker Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of SYK opened at $377.01 on Friday. Stryker Co. has a 1 year low of $314.93 and a 1 year 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $372.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $375.83. The stock has a market cap of $143.90 billion, a PE ratio of 48.58, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.91.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical technology company reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.73 by $0.11. Stryker had a return on equity of 23.58% and a net margin of 13.25%. The business had revenue of $5.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. Stryker’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Stryker Co. will post 13.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.41%.

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.