Ascent Group LLC Increases Stake in Stryker Corporation $SYK

Ascent Group LLC raised its position in shares of Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) by 124.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,038 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,229 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $4,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Stryker by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $453,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Stryker by 45.6% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 12,445 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $4,601,000 after purchasing an additional 3,899 shares in the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Stryker by 13.1% in the third quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Stryker during the third quarter valued at $227,000. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Stryker by 5.7% during the third quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,979 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Stryker Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Stryker stock opened at $354.20 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.45 billion, a PE ratio of 46.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.89. Stryker Corporation has a 1-year low of $329.16 and a 1-year high of $406.19. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $362.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $376.10.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The medical technology company reported $3.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.04 billion. Stryker had a return on equity of 24.07% and a net margin of 12.07%.Stryker’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Stryker Corporation will post 13.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Stryker Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This is an increase from Stryker’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Stryker’s payout ratio is presently 44.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 276,173 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.28, for a total value of $97,566,397.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,702,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $954,600,714.24. This represents a 9.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Preston Wendell Wells sold 165 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.88, for a total transaction of $60,370.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 6,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,449,200.72. This trade represents a 2.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 522,118 shares of company stock worth $185,381,932 over the last three months. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SYK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Stryker from $410.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group set a $408.00 price objective on shares of Stryker in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Stryker from $443.00 to $453.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Stryker from $400.00 to $392.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded Stryker from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Stryker presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $431.84.

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.