Stryker Corporation $SYK Holdings Raised by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) by 4.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,303,290 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after buying an additional 96,662 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Stryker were worth $851,457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Stryker by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,773,399 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $12,485,012,000 after acquiring an additional 272,828 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Stryker by 1.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,956,732 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,929,765,000 after purchasing an additional 150,204 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Stryker by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,393,611 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,910,445,000 after purchasing an additional 79,654 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Stryker by 307.6% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,596,508 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,214,146,000 after purchasing an additional 4,223,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,882,173,000. 77.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Stryker

In other Stryker news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.92, for a total transaction of $90,730,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,457,331 shares in the company, valued at $891,814,566.52. This represents a 9.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 5.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Stryker Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of SYK stock opened at $366.05 on Tuesday. Stryker Corporation has a 12 month low of $329.16 and a 12 month high of $404.87. The company has a market cap of $140.08 billion, a PE ratio of 43.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business’s 50 day moving average is $365.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $368.71.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The medical technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.40 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.12 billion. Stryker had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 24.41%. Stryker’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Stryker Corporation will post 13.47 EPS for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Stryker’s payout ratio is currently 41.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SYK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Stryker from $448.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $437.00 price objective on shares of Stryker in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Stryker from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $418.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $465.00 price target on shares of Stryker in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Stryker from $410.00 to $412.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $428.61.

Stryker Company Profile

Stryker Corporation is a global medical technology company that designs, manufactures and markets a broad range of products and services for use in hospitals, surgeons’ offices and other healthcare facilities. Its primary business activities span orthopedics (including joint replacement implants, trauma and extremities products), surgical equipment and operating room technologies (such as visualization, navigation and powered instruments), neurotechnology and spine solutions, and patient-handling and emergency medical equipment.