Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $277.15 Million Stock Holdings in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 32.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 769,759 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 373,814 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.20% of Stryker worth $277,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Chicago Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Stryker by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 195,052 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $70,228,000 after acquiring an additional 5,841 shares during the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC lifted its stake in Stryker by 55.0% in the 4th quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 114,889 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $41,366,000 after purchasing an additional 40,784 shares during the last quarter. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Stryker in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $587,000. Berkshire Bank grew its stake in shares of Stryker by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 8,489 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $3,056,000 after buying an additional 1,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stryker during the fourth quarter worth $1,350,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 in the company, valued at $1,428,567,498. This represents a 5.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SYK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Stryker from $420.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on Stryker from $402.00 to $418.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Stryker from $411.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Stryker from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $445.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $419.37.

Stryker Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Stryker stock opened at $396.24 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $314.93 and a 52 week high of $406.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $377.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $364.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.06 billion, a PE ratio of 51.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.96.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Stryker Co. will post 13.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. Stryker’s payout ratio is 43.30%.

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.