Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) Shares Purchased by Welch Group LLC

Welch Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,708 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $7,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Parnassus Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Stryker during the 3rd quarter valued at about $762,798,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 66,967.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 853,769 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $308,433,000 after purchasing an additional 852,496 shares during the last quarter. RTW Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker in the third quarter valued at approximately $143,392,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Stryker by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,582,959 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,279,788,000 after purchasing an additional 316,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in Stryker by 3.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,306,994 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,639,725,000 after buying an additional 215,782 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Stryker

In related news, CEO Kevin Lobo sold 57,313 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.70, for a total value of $21,131,303.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,879,954.90. This represents a 36.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.24, for a total value of $78,993,998.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director now 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Stryker Price Performance

Shares of SYK opened at $390.97 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.38, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $376.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $363.22. 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.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Stryker Co. will post 13.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. This is a positive change from Stryker’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SYK. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Stryker from $427.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Stryker from $402.00 to $418.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Stryker from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Stryker from $378.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Stryker from $384.00 to $427.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $419.37.

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.