Lazard Asset Management LLC Has $16.70 Million Stock Holdings in Stryker Corporation $SYK

Lazard Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 50,829 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 3,980 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $16,702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Stryker during the 4th quarter worth about $1,822,272,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its holdings in Stryker by 35,047.0% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 2,914,741 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,024,444,000 after acquiring an additional 2,906,448 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Stryker by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,493,276 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,282,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,198,665 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Stryker by 104.4% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,245,841 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $887,525,000 after acquiring an additional 1,146,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 241.9% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,555,638 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $511,167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100,673 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 310,000 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.23, for a total transaction of $96,791,300.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,924,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $601,005,282.40. This trade represents a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert S. Fletcher sold 4,544 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.87, for a total value of $1,394,417.28. Following the sale, the vice president owned 10,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,247,298.34. This trade represents a 30.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 323,264 shares of company stock worth $100,659,489 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Stryker Stock Performance

SYK opened at $352.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 2.11. Stryker Corporation has a 52-week low of $281.00 and a 52-week high of $403.22. The firm has a market cap of $135.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s fifty day moving average is $316.38 and its 200-day moving average is $335.11.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical technology company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.38). Stryker had a return on equity of 23.42% and a net margin of 13.20%.The business had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Stryker Corporation will post 14.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Stryker’s payout ratio is currently 40.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on SYK. Argus set a $370.00 price target on Stryker in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Leerink Partners lowered their price objective on Stryker from $410.00 to $407.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Stryker from $454.00 to $418.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. BTIG Research set a $371.00 price target on shares of Stryker in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $361.00 price target on shares of Stryker in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $393.39.

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.