Legato Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Legato Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 44.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,664 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 6,873 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $3,119,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of SYK. Chicago Capital LLC increased its stake in Stryker by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 195,052 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $70,228,000 after purchasing an additional 5,841 shares in the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 40,784 shares during the last quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA increased its position in shares of Stryker by 5.0% in the 4th 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 period. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Stryker in the 4th quarter worth $587,000. Finally, Berkshire Bank grew its stake in Stryker by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 8,489 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $3,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Stryker Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of SYK stock opened at $390.52 on Wednesday. Stryker Co. has a fifty-two week low of $314.93 and a fifty-two week high of $406.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.33, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $377.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $366.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.14. Stryker had a return on equity of 23.58% and a net margin of 13.25%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Stryker Co. will post 13.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SYK. StockNews.com cut Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted 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. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Stryker from $378.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $442.00 target price on shares of Stryker in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Stryker from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $445.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $420.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was 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 trade represents a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Stryker Profile

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.