Principal Securities Inc. Has $2.73 Million Stake in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 21.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,584 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,340 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Stryker were worth $2,731,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SYK. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Stryker by 94.9% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 76 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Stryker during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Stryker in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Stryker in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stryker in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stryker

In other Stryker news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.24, for a total transaction of $78,993,998.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,642,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,428,567,498. The trade was a 5.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Stryker Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Stryker stock opened at $385.05 on Tuesday. Stryker Co. has a 52-week low of $314.93 and a 52-week high of $406.19. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $377.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $367.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.14. Stryker had a return on equity of 23.58% and a net margin of 13.25%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Stryker Co. will post 13.49 EPS for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Stryker’s payout ratio is presently 43.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on SYK shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Stryker from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $370.00 to $445.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Stryker from $427.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Stryker from $380.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Stryker in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy 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 $420.68.

Stryker Company Profile

Stryker Corporation operates as a medical technology company. The company operates through two segments, MedSurg and Neurotechnology, and Orthopaedics and Spine. The Orthopaedics and Spine segment provides implants for use in total joint replacements, such as hip, knee and shoulder, and trauma and extremities surgeries.