Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 44 Shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its position in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 736 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 44 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Stryker by 0.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,665,520 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $8,379,967,000 after acquiring an additional 143,631 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Stryker by 2.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,972,582 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,632,127,000 after acquiring an additional 144,208 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Stryker by 4.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,315,227 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,452,493,000 after acquiring an additional 223,728 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Stryker by 3.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,505,595 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $957,974,000 after acquiring an additional 131,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Stryker by 2.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,740,456 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $475,614,000 after buying an additional 40,736 shares during the last quarter. 77.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Stryker Price Performance

SYK stock opened at $335.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $127.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.68, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Stryker Co. has a 12-month low of $249.98 and a 12-month high of $361.41. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $348.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $314.88.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The medical technology company reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.60 billion. Stryker had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 22.99%. Stryker’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.00 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Stryker Co. will post 11.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Stryker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SYK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Stryker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $315.00 to $360.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Stryker from $340.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Stryker from $362.00 to $406.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Stryker from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Stryker from $360.00 to $386.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $340.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO William E. Berry, Jr. sold 7,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.48, for a total transaction of $2,756,711.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,317,414. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO William E. Berry, Jr. sold 7,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.48, for a total transaction of $2,756,711.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,317,414. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Allan C. Golston sold 3,273 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $1,116,093.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,242 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,856,522. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 212,109 shares of company stock worth $72,845,768. Company insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Stryker Company Profile

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.