Vawter Financial Ltd. Reduces Stake in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Vawter Financial Ltd. lowered its holdings in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,972 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Vawter Financial Ltd.’s holdings in Stryker were worth $710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Stryker by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,816 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Alhambra Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Stryker by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC now owns 1,997 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Stryker by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 687 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Capital & Planning LLC raised its position in shares of Stryker by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 841 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in shares of Stryker by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 1,396 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SYK shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Stryker in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $442.00 target price on shares of Stryker in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Stryker from $420.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of Stryker from $383.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $420.68.

Stryker Price Performance

Shares of Stryker stock opened at $385.44 on Wednesday. Stryker Co. has a 52-week low of $314.93 and a 52-week high of $406.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a fifty day moving average of $377.44 and a 200-day moving average of $367.94. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.25% and a return on equity of 23.58%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Stryker Co. will post 13.49 EPS for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.24, for a total value of $78,993,998.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,642,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,428,567,498. This represents a 5.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 5.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Stryker

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.