Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its stake in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK - Free Report) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 193,923 shares of the medical technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,478 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. owned about 0.05% of Stryker worth $69,822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SYK. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Stryker by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,698,828 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $11,773,213,000 after purchasing an additional 252,188 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Stryker by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,109,722 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $4,000,056,000 after buying an additional 54,693 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Stryker by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,034,844 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $2,892,946,000 after acquiring an additional 727,850 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Stryker by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,073,562 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $2,539,033,000 after acquiring an additional 168,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Stryker in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,710,744,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.09% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stryker

In other news, Director Allan C. Golston sold 2,458 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $383.07, for a total transaction of $941,586.06. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,705,827.65. This represents a 14.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 200,000 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.96, for a total value of $75,392,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,417,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,288,195,208.96. The trade was a 5.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SYK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Stryker from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Stryker from $405.00 to $456.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Stryker from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $450.00 target price on shares of Stryker in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, BTIG Research set a $403.00 price target on shares of Stryker and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $427.05.

Stryker Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE SYK traded down $1.59 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $380.87. 758,784 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,356,009. Stryker Co. has a 52-week low of $314.93 and a 52-week high of $406.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $365.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $374.38. The firm has a market cap of $145.37 billion, a PE ratio of 49.08, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.93.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical technology company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.73 by $0.11. Stryker had a return on equity of 23.58% and a net margin of 13.25%. The firm had revenue of $5.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Stryker Co. will post 13.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Stryker's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.41%.

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.