Highland Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 5,828 Stryker Corporation $SYK

Highland Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 5,828 shares of the medical technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,154,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Stryker during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,882,173,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Stryker by 307.6% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,596,508 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,214,146,000 after buying an additional 4,223,366 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 104.4% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,245,841 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $887,525,000 after buying an additional 1,146,998 shares during the period. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new position in Stryker during the second quarter valued at about $191,047,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Stryker by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,500,571 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $13,253,831,000 after acquiring an additional 440,607 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stryker

In other news, CAO William E. Berry, Jr. sold 1,953 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.49, for a total value of $713,801.97. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 2,833 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,433.17. This represents a 40.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 276,173 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.28, for a total transaction of $97,566,397.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,702,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $954,600,714.24. This trade represents a 9.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 522,118 shares of company stock valued at $185,381,932 in the last 90 days. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Stryker Trading Down 0.2%

Stryker stock opened at $354.20 on Friday. Stryker Corporation has a 52 week low of $329.16 and a 52 week high of $406.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $363.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $376.55.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The medical technology company reported $3.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.04 billion. Stryker had a return on equity of 24.07% and a net margin of 12.07%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.87 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Stryker Corporation will post 13.47 EPS for the current year.

Stryker Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st 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 is Wednesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Stryker’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio is 44.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SYK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $410.00 price target on shares of Stryker in a report on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Stryker in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Stryker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, December 21st. UBS Group set a $408.00 price target on Stryker in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Rothschild Redb raised Stryker to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stryker presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $431.84.

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.