Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Trims Stock Position in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich reduced its stake in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 15.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,253 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 967 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Stryker were worth $1,573,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 74,911.8% during the 3rd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 680,357 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $185,921,000 after buying an additional 679,450 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 103.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,084,987 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $296,493,000 after buying an additional 551,798 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,315,227 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,452,493,000 after buying an additional 223,728 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,115,955 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $304,957,000 after buying an additional 217,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,547,683 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $422,099,000 after buying an additional 194,715 shares in the last quarter. 77.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stryker Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SYK opened at $335.61 on Friday. Stryker Co. has a twelve month low of $249.98 and a twelve month high of $361.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.69 billion, a PE ratio of 40.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $348.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $314.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The medical technology company reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.19. Stryker had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 22.99%. The company had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Stryker Co. will post 11.86 EPS for the current year.

Stryker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Stryker’s payout ratio is 38.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Stryker news, CAO William E. Berry, Jr. sold 7,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.48, for a total transaction of $2,756,711.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,675 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,317,414. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Stryker news, CAO William E. Berry, Jr. sold 7,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.48, for a total transaction of $2,756,711.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,317,414. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,146 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 3,755,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,287,633,391.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 212,109 shares of company stock worth $72,845,768. Company insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SYK. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Stryker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $360.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Stryker from $362.00 to $406.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Stryker from $360.00 to $386.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Stryker from $340.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Stryker from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Three 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, Stryker presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $340.67.

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.