Covenant Asset Management LLC Makes New $3.87 Million Investment in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Covenant Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 10,757 shares of the medical technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,873,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Chicago Capital LLC increased its holdings in Stryker by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 195,052 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $70,228,000 after buying an additional 5,841 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC increased its stake in Stryker by 55.0% in the fourth quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 114,889 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $41,366,000 after acquiring an additional 40,784 shares during the last quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA lifted its stake in Stryker by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 29,222 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $10,521,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Stryker in the 4th quarter valued at $587,000. Finally, Berkshire Bank raised its holdings in shares of Stryker by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 8,489 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $3,056,000 after buying an additional 1,030 shares in the last quarter. 77.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SYK shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $442.00 target price on shares of Stryker in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Stryker from $366.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Stryker from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Stryker from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $445.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Stryker from $418.00 to $443.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $420.68.

Stryker Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE SYK opened at $385.05 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $377.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $366.30. Stryker Co. has a 12-month low of $314.93 and a 12-month high of $406.19. The firm has a market cap of $146.79 billion, a PE ratio of 49.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.14. Stryker had a return on equity of 23.58% and a net margin of 13.25%. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Stryker Co. will post 13.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Stryker’s payout ratio is currently 43.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stryker

In other news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.24, for a total transaction of $78,993,998.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,642,075 shares in the company, valued at $1,428,567,498. This trade represents a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.