Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) shares gapped down prior to trading on Friday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $550.00 to $450.00. The stock had previously closed at $402.33, but opened at $365.03. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Intuitive Surgical shares last traded at $355.9240, with a volume of 2,263,369 shares traded.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays set a $651.00 target price on shares of Intuitive Surgical and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised Intuitive Surgical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Intuitive Surgical from $750.00 to $685.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Intuitive Surgical from $650.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Intuitive Surgical from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Intuitive Surgical has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $523.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Intuitive Surgical news, SVP Iman Jeddi sold 5,625 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $420.55, for a total value of $2,365,593.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,463 shares in the company, valued at $2,718,014.65. This trade represents a 46.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Gary Loeb sold 400 shares of Intuitive Surgical stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $424.14, for a total transaction of $169,656.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,426,080.80. This trade represents a 6.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 7,169 shares of company stock worth $3,059,135 over the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Intuitive Surgical

Here are the key news stories impacting Intuitive Surgical this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Intuitive Surgical reported stronger-than-expected Q2 revenue and earnings, helped by solid demand for its da Vinci robotic surgery systems and continued adoption of its products. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: The company still reported healthy procedure growth overall, with worldwide procedures rising and placements of robotic systems remaining strong, which supports the long-term investment case. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several analysts lowered price targets after the report, but most kept bullish ratings such as overweight, buy, or outperform, suggesting Wall Street still sees meaningful upside despite the near-term pullback. Benzinga article
• Negative Sentiment: Management did not raise its forecast for procedure growth, and investors reacted badly to slower U.S. procedure growth and a cautious full-year outlook. Benzinga article
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters also noted concerns that changes to some insurance plans could reduce demand, adding to worries about slower U.S. growth and a softer near-term procedure trajectory. Reuters article

Institutional Trading of Intuitive Surgical

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ISRG. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Intuitive Surgical by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,672 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,916,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 928 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 38.0% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 973 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Intuitive Surgical in the second quarter worth approximately $200,000. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 92.4% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 2,929 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares in the last quarter. 83.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Intuitive Surgical Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $122.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.57, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $415.28 and its 200 day moving average is $467.88.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical equipment provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. Intuitive Surgical had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 17.09%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.81 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Intuitive Surgical, Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intuitive Surgical Company Profile

Intuitive Surgical, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, is a medical technology company focused on the design, manufacture and service of robotic-assisted surgical systems. The company is best known for its da Vinci surgical systems, which enable minimally invasive procedures by translating a surgeon’s hand movements into finer, scaled motions of small instruments inside the patient. Intuitive’s business centers on supplying hospitals and surgical centers with systems, instruments and related technologies that aim to improve precision, visualization and control in the operating room.

In addition to its core surgical platforms, Intuitive markets a portfolio of reusable and disposable instruments, accessories, and proprietary software, and provides training, servicing and clinical support to its customers.