Sheets Smith Investment Management Purchases Shares of 3,724 Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Sheets Smith Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,724 shares of the medical technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,341,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Chicago Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Stryker by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 195,052 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $70,228,000 after acquiring an additional 5,841 shares during the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Stryker by 55.0% during 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 increased its position in shares of Stryker by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 29,222 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $10,521,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Stryker by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 16,841 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $6,064,000 after acquiring an additional 1,561 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Stryker by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 182,825 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $65,829,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the period. 77.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Stryker Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:SYK opened at $371.38 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $384.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $374.12. The company has a market capitalization of $141.71 billion, a PE ratio of 47.86, a P/E/G 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 current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last announced 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 net margin of 13.25% and a return on equity of 23.58%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Stryker Co. will post 13.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Stryker’s payout ratio is 43.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SYK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Stryker from $420.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Stryker from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $445.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Stryker from $427.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $442.00 price objective on shares of Stryker in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Stryker from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stryker has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $421.90.

Insider Activity

In other Stryker news, Director Allan C. Golston sold 2,458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 14,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,705,827.65. The trade was a 14.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 represents a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

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.