Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,730,000 shares, an increase of 16.5% from the February 13th total of 4,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,350,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days. Approximately 1.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Allan C. Golston sold 2,458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $383.07, for a total transaction of $941,586.06. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,705,827.65. This represents a 14.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stryker

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SYK. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Stryker during the 4th quarter worth about $1,710,744,000. Parnassus Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Stryker in the 3rd quarter valued at about $762,798,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Stryker in the 4th quarter valued at about $353,394,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Stryker by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,034,844 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,892,946,000 after purchasing an additional 727,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Stryker by 52,520.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 596,194 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $214,660,000 after purchasing an additional 595,061 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Stryker Stock Down 1.2 %

SYK opened at $373.69 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $384.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $373.85. 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 has a twelve month low of $314.93 and a twelve month high of $406.19. The firm has a market cap of $142.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.16, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.95.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last posted its earnings results 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 period last year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Stryker will post 13.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SYK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Stryker from $418.00 to $443.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Stryker from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Argus set a $450.00 target price on shares of Stryker in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $421.90.

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.