Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Reduces Stock Holdings in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. lowered its position in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,225 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 175 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Stryker were worth $1,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Stryker by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 33,934 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $12,218,000 after buying an additional 6,159 shares in the last quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Stryker during the 4th quarter worth about $398,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its position in Stryker by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 20,004 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $7,202,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares in the last quarter. Hendley & Co. Inc. increased its position in Stryker by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Hendley & Co. Inc. now owns 8,694 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $3,130,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co increased its position in Stryker by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 2,324 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $839,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SYK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Stryker from $378.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Stryker from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $370.00 to $445.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Stryker from $418.00 to $443.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Stryker in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Stryker from $411.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $422.15.

Stryker Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SYK opened at $388.11 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $378.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $369.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Stryker Co. has a twelve month low of $314.93 and a twelve month high of $406.19. The company has a market cap of $148.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.01, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.96.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 earnings per share 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Stryker Co. will post 13.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.24, for a total transaction of $78,993,998.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,642,075 shares in the company, valued at $1,428,567,498. The trade was a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Allan C. Golston sold 2,458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $383.07, for a total value 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. The trade was a 14.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

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.