Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in Stryker Corporation $SYK

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 376,309 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 34,916 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Stryker worth $139,110,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Stryker in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Clayton Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Stryker in the third quarter worth $26,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Stryker during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Sachetta LLC lifted its position in Stryker by 58.7% during the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 73 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kilter Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stryker in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Stryker Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:SYK opened at $368.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $359.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $371.38. Stryker Corporation has a one year low of $329.16 and a one year high of $404.87. The firm has a market cap of $140.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.89.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The medical technology company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.40 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion during 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%. Stryker’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Stryker Corporation will post 13.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Stryker’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SYK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Stryker in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Stryker from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $435.00 target price on shares of Stryker in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price objective on Stryker from $410.00 to $412.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stryker currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $426.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stryker

In other Stryker news, 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 value of $60,370.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,449,200.72. The trade was a 2.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO William E. Berry, Jr. sold 1,953 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.49, for a total value of $713,801.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,433.17. The trade was a 40.81% 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. Corporate insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Stryker 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.