XML Financial LLC Increases Stake in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

XML Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,560 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the quarter. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $1,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Zhang Financial LLC grew its holdings in Stryker by 55.0% in the 4th quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 114,889 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $41,366,000 after acquiring an additional 40,784 shares during the last quarter. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Stryker during the 4th quarter valued at about $587,000. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Stryker during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,350,000. Parnassus Investments LLC bought a new position in Stryker during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $762,798,000. Finally, Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Stryker by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 66,681 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $24,089,000 after buying an additional 1,554 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SYK shares. Barclays upped their target price on Stryker from $402.00 to $418.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Stryker from $366.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised 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 research note on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Stryker from $383.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $405.80.

Stryker Stock Performance

Shares of SYK stock opened at $390.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.91. The company has a market capitalization of $148.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.95. Stryker Co. has a one year low of $307.23 and a one year high of $398.20. The company’s 50-day moving average is $375.78 and its 200 day moving average is $359.94.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The medical technology company reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $5.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. Stryker had a net margin of 16.34% and a return on equity of 23.07%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Stryker Co. will post 12.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Stryker’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kevin Lobo sold 57,313 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.70, for a total value of $21,131,303.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 100,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,879,954.90. This trade represents a 36.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 5.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.