Watchman Group Inc. Lowers Stake in Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK)

Watchman Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,983 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 714 shares during the period. Stryker makes up 1.7% of Watchman Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Watchman Group Inc.’s holdings in Stryker were worth $5,950,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SYK. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,564 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,643,000 after acquiring an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $931,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 7,579 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,729,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,204,000. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 21,568 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $7,766,000 after acquiring an additional 3,150 shares in the last quarter. 77.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SYK shares. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $450.00 target price on shares of Stryker in a report on Monday, May 5th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Stryker in a report on Monday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Stryker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Stryker in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Stryker from $442.00 to $448.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $430.10.

Insider Activity at Stryker

In other news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 200,000 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.45, for a total transaction of $75,290,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,222,108 shares in the company, valued at $1,212,962,556.60. The trade was a 5.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Stryker Stock Performance

Shares of SYK opened at $378.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $144.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.14, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of $386.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $379.68. Stryker Corporation has a 12-month low of $329.16 and a 12-month high of $406.19.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The medical technology company reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.07 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.92 billion. Stryker had a net margin of 12.25% and a return on equity of 23.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.81 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Stryker Corporation will post 13.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Stryker’s payout ratio is 44.50%.

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.