Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys 6,159 Shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 22.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 33,934 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,159 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Stryker were worth $12,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC grew its stake in Stryker by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 3,653 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Stryker by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,816 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $654,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC grew its stake in Stryker by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 841 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Stryker by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC now owns 1,997 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Stryker by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 687 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Stryker from $427.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. BTIG Research increased their target price on Stryker from $383.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Stryker in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Stryker from $384.00 to $427.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Stryker has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $422.15.

Stryker Stock Performance

Shares of SYK stock opened at $390.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.96. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $378.78 and a 200 day moving average of $370.22. Stryker Co. has a 1 year low of $314.93 and a 1 year high of $406.19.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Stryker Co. will post 13.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Stryker news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 value of $941,586.06. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,895 shares in the company, valued at $5,705,827.65. This represents a 14.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.