Stryker Corporation $SYK is Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc.’s 10th Largest Position

Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. raised its position in Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 14,942 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,784 shares during the quarter. Stryker comprises approximately 2.0% of Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc.’s holdings in Stryker were worth $5,252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SYK. Clayton Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stryker in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. United Financial Planning Group LLC purchased a new stake in Stryker during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Stryker during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new position in Stryker in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Copia Wealth Management boosted its position in Stryker by 181.6% in the 3rd quarter. Copia Wealth Management now owns 107 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SYK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Stryker from $450.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Stryker in a report on Thursday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Stryker from $403.00 to $357.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $465.00 price target on shares of Stryker in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $387.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $421.11.

Stryker Stock Performance

Shares of SYK stock opened at $338.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $129.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.26, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $352.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $359.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Stryker Corporation has a 12 month low of $319.32 and a 12 month high of $404.87.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The medical technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.40 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.12 billion. Stryker had a return on equity of 24.41% and a net margin of 12.92%.Stryker’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.01 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Stryker Corporation will post 14.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Stryker’s payout ratio is presently 41.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,457,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $891,814,566.52. This represents a 9.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Stryker Company Profile

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.