Rathbones Group PLC Reduces Stock Position in Intuitive Surgical, Inc. $ISRG

Rathbones Group PLC lessened its stake in Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) by 5.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 420,611 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 24,762 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Intuitive Surgical were worth $193,897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Intuitive Surgical in the 4th quarter valued at $2,856,987,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its stake in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 18,504.6% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,127,248 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,204,788,000 after acquiring an additional 2,115,814 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 1,043.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,342,121 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $760,124,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224,734 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 95.3% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,105,544 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $970,635,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027,475 shares during the period. Finally, Polen Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Intuitive Surgical during the 4th quarter valued at about $477,225,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.64% of the company’s stock.

Intuitive Surgical Stock Performance

NASDAQ ISRG opened at $353.33 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $398.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $451.13. The stock has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a PE ratio of 40.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46. Intuitive Surgical, Inc. has a twelve month low of $328.57 and a twelve month high of $603.88.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 16th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Intuitive Surgical had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 16.91%. Intuitive Surgical’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.81 EPS. Research analysts predict that Intuitive Surgical, Inc. will post 8.87 EPS for the current year.

Key Intuitive Surgical News

Here are the key news stories impacting Intuitive Surgical this week:

• Positive Sentiment: UBS upgraded ISRG, arguing that the recent selloff was excessive. The firm’s revised price target of $475 implies meaningful upside and may be supporting renewed investor interest. UBS upgrades Intuitive Surgical
• Positive Sentiment: Intuitive Surgical’s expansion beyond urology into general surgery and other specialties could create additional procedure growth and increase long-term demand for da Vinci systems, instruments and related services. Robotic surgery expansion beyond urology
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains broadly favorable, with the brokerage consensus at “Moderate Buy.” The company’s recurring revenue from instruments and accessories, expanding installed base and durable robotic-surgery demand remain key bullish arguments. Brokerage consensus on Intuitive Surgical
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks highlighted the unusually high level of investor interest in ISRG, but the article did not provide a new earnings or guidance catalyst. Zacks investor attention report
• Neutral Sentiment: An executive’s small stock sales were made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and reduced his holdings by roughly 2%, making them unlikely to materially alter the investment case. Intuitive Surgical insider sale
• Negative Sentiment: HSBC lowered Intuitive Surgical from Buy to Hold and set a $391 price target. Although that target remains above recent trading levels, the downgrade signals reduced confidence in the stock’s near-term upside. HSBC downgrades Intuitive Surgical
• Negative Sentiment: Despite a quarterly revenue and earnings beat, investors remain concerned about softer U.S. procedure growth, deferred care and the premium valuation. Those worries have contributed to continued pressure in the shares. Intuitive Surgical post-earnings selloff

Insider Activity

In other Intuitive Surgical news, EVP Gary Loeb sold 400 shares of Intuitive Surgical stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $424.14, for a total transaction of $169,656.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,720 shares in the company, valued at $2,426,080.80. This trade represents a 6.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Iman Jeddi sold 5,625 shares of Intuitive Surgical stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $420.55, for a total transaction of $2,365,593.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 6,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,718,014.65. This represents a 46.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 6,634 shares of company stock valued at $2,796,795. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ISRG. Barclays set a $651.00 price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $558.00 target price on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $750.00 to $685.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $520.00 to $515.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.02.

About Intuitive Surgical

Intuitive Surgical, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, is a medical technology company focused on the design, manufacture and service of robotic-assisted surgical systems. The company is best known for its da Vinci surgical systems, which enable minimally invasive procedures by translating a surgeon’s hand movements into finer, scaled motions of small instruments inside the patient. Intuitive’s business centers on supplying hospitals and surgical centers with systems, instruments and related technologies that aim to improve precision, visualization and control in the operating room.

In addition to its core surgical platforms, Intuitive markets a portfolio of reusable and disposable instruments, accessories, and proprietary software, and provides training, servicing and clinical support to its customers.