Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $426.4706.

SYK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Stryker from $448.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Stryker from $452.00 to $456.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Stryker from $386.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Stryker from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $418.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Stryker from $410.00 to $412.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th.

Stryker Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE SYK opened at $384.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.72, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $364.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $369.17. Stryker has a 12 month low of $329.16 and a 12 month high of $404.87.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The medical technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.40 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.12 billion. Stryker had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 24.41%. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.01 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Stryker will post 13.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Stryker’s payout ratio is 41.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stryker

In other news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.92, for a total value of $90,730,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,457,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $891,814,566.52. This trade represents a 9.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stryker

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SYK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,822,272,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Stryker by 307.6% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,596,508 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,214,146,000 after acquiring an additional 4,223,366 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Stryker by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,493,276 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,282,192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,198,665 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Stryker by 104.4% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,245,841 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $887,525,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stryker in the 3rd quarter valued at $227,389,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

About Stryker

Stryker Corporation is a global medical technology company that designs, manufactures and markets a broad range of products and services for use in hospitals, surgeons’ offices and other healthcare facilities. Its primary business activities span orthopedics (including joint replacement implants, trauma and extremities products), surgical equipment and operating room technologies (such as visualization, navigation and powered instruments), neurotechnology and spine solutions, and patient-handling and emergency medical equipment.