Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $2.36 Million in Stryker Corporation $SYK

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 6,372 shares of the medical technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,356,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Davis R M Inc. boosted its holdings in Stryker by 1.8% in the third quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 138,732 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $51,285,000 after purchasing an additional 2,512 shares during the period. Terra Alpha Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Stryker during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,216,000. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in Stryker by 45.6% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 12,445 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $4,601,000 after purchasing an additional 3,899 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stryker in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,785,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Stryker in the 2nd quarter valued at about $567,000. 77.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SYK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Stryker in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Stryker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Stryker from $448.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Stryker from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $418.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $399.00 price objective on shares of Stryker in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $428.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.92, for a total transaction of $90,730,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,457,331 shares in the company, valued at $891,814,566.52. This represents a 9.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Stryker Trading Down 1.9%

NYSE:SYK opened at $358.83 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $137.32 billion, a PE ratio of 42.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.85. Stryker Corporation has a 52-week low of $329.16 and a 52-week high of $404.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $365.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $368.46. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The medical technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.40 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.12 billion. Stryker had a return on equity of 24.41% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Stryker Corporation will post 13.47 EPS for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

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

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.