Kentucky Retirement Systems Acquires 2,758 Shares of Stryker Corporation $SYK

Kentucky Retirement Systems raised its holdings in Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) by 12.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 24,369 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,758 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Stryker were worth $8,007,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Godfrey Financial Associates Inc. bought a new position in Stryker during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Sankala Group LLC bought a new stake in Stryker in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. United Financial Planning Group LLC bought a new stake in Stryker in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Stryker during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, DJE Kapital AG acquired a new stake in shares of Stryker in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SYK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Stryker from $420.00 to $385.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Evercore set a $350.00 price objective on Stryker in a report on Monday, July 6th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Stryker in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $369.00 target price on the stock. Argus set a $370.00 price target on Stryker in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $410.00 price objective on Stryker in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $393.39.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 310,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.23, for a total value of $96,791,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,924,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $601,005,282.40. This represents a 13.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert S. Fletcher sold 4,544 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.87, for a total transaction of $1,394,417.28. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 10,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,247,298.34. This trade represents a 30.04% 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 323,264 shares of company stock valued at $100,659,489 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Stryker Stock Up 1.7%

SYK stock opened at $352.35 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $316.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $335.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.08 billion, a PE ratio of 40.78, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.77. Stryker Corporation has a twelve month low of $281.00 and a twelve month high of $403.22.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical technology company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.38). The business had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.34 billion. Stryker had a net margin of 13.20% and a return on equity of 23.42%. Stryker’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Stryker Corporation will post 14.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. Stryker’s payout ratio is presently 40.74%.

Stryker Company Profile

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.