Providence Capital Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Providence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 13,615 shares of the medical technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,902,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SYK. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Stryker by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,698,828 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $11,773,213,000 after buying an additional 252,188 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Stryker by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,582,959 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $5,279,788,000 after acquiring an additional 316,404 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Stryker by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,905,126 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,484,893,000 after acquiring an additional 165,490 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Stryker in the fourth quarter valued at $1,710,744,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Stryker by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,985,045 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $714,715,000 after purchasing an additional 48,819 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Stryker

In other Stryker news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 3,642,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,428,567,498. This trade represents a 5.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Allan C. Golston sold 2,458 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $383.07, for a total transaction of $941,586.06. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,705,827.65. This trade represents a 14.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Stryker Stock Performance

NYSE:SYK opened at $367.87 on Friday. Stryker Co. has a 12 month low of $314.93 and a 12 month high of $406.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.37 billion, a PE ratio of 47.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $384.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $374.24.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Stryker Co. will post 13.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on SYK shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Stryker from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Stryker in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Stryker from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $370.00 to $445.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Stryker in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Stryker from $427.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $421.90.

About Stryker

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.