Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Grows Position in Stryker Corporation $SYK

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) by 42.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,554 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,959 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Stryker were worth $13,513,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Terra Alpha Investments LLC purchased a new position in Stryker in the third quarter valued at about $1,216,000. Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Stryker by 45.6% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 12,445 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $4,601,000 after buying an additional 3,899 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,785,000. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in Stryker during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $567,000. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Stryker by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 683,867 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $252,805,000 after acquiring an additional 16,254 shares during the period. 77.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stryker Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SYK opened at $365.88 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $139.92 billion, a PE ratio of 43.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $357.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $369.81. Stryker Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $329.16 and a fifty-two week high of $404.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The medical technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.40 by $0.07. Stryker had a return on equity of 24.41% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.01 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Stryker Corporation will post 13.47 EPS for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.90%.

Insider Activity at Stryker

In other Stryker news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 250,000 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.92, for a total transaction of $90,730,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,457,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $891,814,566.52. The trade was a 9.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Preston Wendell Wells sold 165 shares of the firm’s 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 in the company, valued at $2,449,200.72. This trade represents a 2.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 5.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SYK shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Stryker from $452.00 to $456.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Evercore set a $390.00 price target on shares of Stryker in a research note on Monday, January 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $399.00 price objective on shares of Stryker in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Raymond James Financial raised Stryker from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $418.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $387.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 26th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $426.94.

About Stryker

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.