Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Position in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,077 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 749 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Stryker were worth $12,001,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SYK. RWA Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Stryker by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,641 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,288,000 after buying an additional 1,303 shares in the last quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Stryker by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 1,408 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $422,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Stryker by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. now owns 15,099 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $4,522,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Diversified LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker during the fourth quarter worth about $255,000. Finally, North Star Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Stryker by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 99,373 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $29,758,000 after buying an additional 1,145 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Allan C. Golston sold 3,273 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total value of $1,116,093.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,242 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,856,522. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Allan C. Golston sold 3,273 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total value of $1,116,093.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,856,522. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,146 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.90, for a total transaction of $68,972,963.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,755,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,287,633,391.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 212,109 shares of company stock valued at $72,845,768. Company insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Stryker Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of SYK stock traded up $5.70 on Tuesday, hitting $333.38. The stock had a trading volume of 540,030 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,267,954. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $349.74 and its 200-day moving average is $313.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.58. Stryker Co. has a 52-week low of $249.98 and a 52-week high of $361.41.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The medical technology company reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.60 billion. Stryker had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 22.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Stryker Co. will post 11.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Stryker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SYK shares. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Stryker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $360.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Stryker from $345.00 to $348.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Stryker from $340.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Stryker from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Stryker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $315.00 to $360.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $340.45.

About Stryker

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.