American Century Companies Inc. Increases Holdings in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 743,693 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 75,897 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Stryker worth $267,767,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Plancorp LLC increased its position in shares of Stryker by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 941 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Vestor Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Stryker by 1,344.4% during the 4th quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 16,755 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $6,033,000 after purchasing an additional 15,595 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in Stryker by 46.3% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 32,518 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $11,708,000 after acquiring an additional 10,286 shares during the last quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC increased its holdings in Stryker by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC now owns 23,931 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $8,616,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sciencast Management LP purchased a new stake in Stryker in the 4th quarter worth about $3,035,000. 77.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SYK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Stryker from $425.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Stryker from $427.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Stryker from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Stryker in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $421.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Allan C. Golston sold 2,458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $383.07, for a total value of $941,586.06. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,895 shares in the company, valued at $5,705,827.65. The trade was a 14.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was 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 $1,428,567,498. The trade was a 5.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Stryker Stock Performance

Shares of SYK opened at $371.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $141.71 billion, a PE ratio of 47.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $384.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $373.93. Stryker Co. has a 12-month low of $314.93 and a 12-month high of $406.19.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last issued 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Stryker Co. will post 13.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Stryker’s payout ratio is 43.30%.

Stryker Company 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.