Empirical Finance LLC Sells 130 Shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Empirical Finance LLC reduced its stake in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,426 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 130 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $4,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SYK. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Stryker by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,644 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Stryker by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,318 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,155,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Conning Inc. lifted its holdings in Stryker by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 2,520 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $907,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. EULAV Asset Management grew its stake in Stryker by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 119,513 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $43,031,000 after acquiring an additional 2,469 shares during the period. Finally, Appleton Partners Inc. MA increased its holdings in shares of Stryker by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 29,222 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $10,521,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. 77.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Stryker news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,428,567,498. The trade was a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 5.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SYK has been the subject of a number of research reports. BTIG Research increased their target price on Stryker from $383.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Stryker from $420.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Stryker from $402.00 to $418.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Stryker from $409.00 to $413.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Stryker from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $370.00 to $445.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $419.37.

Stryker Price Performance

NYSE:SYK opened at $391.42 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $377.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $364.80. Stryker Co. has a 1-year low of $314.93 and a 1-year high of $406.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.22 billion, a PE ratio of 50.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.96.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Stryker Co. will post 13.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

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

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.