Welch Group LLC Has $8.82 Million Stake in Stryker Corporation $SYK

Welch Group LLC increased its stake in Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) by 6.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,848 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,551 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $8,822,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its position in shares of Stryker by 1.5% in the first quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 34,026 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $11,181,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares during the period. Columbus Macro LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 14,410 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $4,735,000 after buying an additional 495 shares during the period. Waterway Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Stryker by 47.7% in the 1st quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,763 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,236,000 after buying an additional 1,215 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Stryker by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 44,190 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $14,520,000 after buying an additional 3,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AA Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Stryker by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,404 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $1,119,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SYK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Stryker from $454.00 to $418.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $410.00 price objective on Stryker in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Stryker from $445.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group lowered their target price on Stryker from $400.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, BTIG Research dropped their price target on Stryker from $397.00 to $379.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Stryker currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stryker

In other Stryker news, VP M Kathryn Fink sold 5,220 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.85, for a total transaction of $1,481,697.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 13,137 shares in the company, valued at $3,728,937.45. The trade was a 28.44% 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, VP Robert S. Fletcher sold 4,544 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 10,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,247,298.34. This represents a 30.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Stryker Stock Performance

NYSE SYK opened at $332.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s fifty day moving average is $311.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $339.93. Stryker Corporation has a 52-week low of $281.00 and a 52-week high of $404.87.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The medical technology company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.38). Stryker had a return on equity of 23.42% and a net margin of 13.20%.The company had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.84 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Stryker has set its FY 2026 guidance at 14.900-15.100 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Stryker Corporation will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio is 40.74%.

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.