Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Decreases Stake in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its holdings in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,559 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 1,311 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Stryker were worth $7,042,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SYK. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Stryker by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 3,653 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,816 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in Stryker by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,407 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $507,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alhambra Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Stryker by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC now owns 1,997 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $719,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SYK has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Stryker from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $445.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Stryker from $425.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Stryker in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Stryker from $420.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Stryker presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $421.90.

Stryker Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of SYK opened at $378.06 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.72, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.95. Stryker Co. has a twelve month low of $314.93 and a twelve month high of $406.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $383.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $373.85.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.14. Stryker had a net margin of 13.25% and a return on equity of 23.58%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Stryker Co. will post 13.47 EPS for the current year.

Stryker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.24, for a total value of $78,993,998.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,642,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,428,567,498. This represents a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Allan C. Golston sold 2,458 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $383.07, for a total value of $941,586.06. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,705,827.65. The trade was a 14.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.