Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Stryker Corporation $SYK

Key Points

• Aptus Capital Advisors cut its Stryker stake by 26.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 30,044 shares and leaving it with 82,692 shares worth about $29.1 million.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on Stryker, with 16 Buy ratings and 6 Hold ratings; the consensus price target is about $395.33, even after a few recent target cuts.
• Stryker reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results, missing EPS and revenue estimates, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.88 per share to be paid July 31.

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK - Free Report) by 26.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,692 shares of the medical technology company's stock after selling 30,044 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Stryker were worth $29,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SYK. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Stryker by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,564 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $1,643,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker in the 2nd quarter worth about $205,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Stryker by 107.9% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,700 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $2,255,000 after purchasing an additional 77,831 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker in the 2nd quarter worth about $219,000. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker in the 2nd quarter worth about $253,000. 77.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on SYK shares. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $410.00 target price on shares of Stryker in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Stryker from $469.00 to $394.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $315.00 target price on shares of Stryker in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Stryker from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Leerink Partners lowered their price target on shares of Stryker from $410.00 to $407.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Stryker has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $395.33.

Stryker Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE SYK opened at $312.14 on Friday. Stryker Corporation has a 1 year low of $281.00 and a 1 year high of $404.87. The stock has a market cap of $119.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $316.40 and a 200 day moving average of $343.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical technology company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.38). Stryker had a net margin of 13.20% and a return on equity of 23.42%. The business had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.34 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.84 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Stryker has set its FY 2026 guidance at 14.900-15.100 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Stryker Corporation will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Stryker's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stryker

In other Stryker news, VP Robert S. Fletcher sold 4,544 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.87, for a total transaction of $1,394,417.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 10,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,247,298.34. This trade represents a 30.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 310,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.23, for a total transaction of $96,791,300.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,924,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $601,005,282.40. This represents a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 323,264 shares of company stock worth $100,659,489. 4.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Stryker Profile

Stryker Corporation is a global medical technology company that designs, manufactures and markets a broad range of products and services for use in hospitals, surgeons' offices and other healthcare facilities. Its primary business activities span orthopedics (including joint replacement implants, trauma and extremities products), surgical equipment and operating room technologies (such as visualization, navigation and powered instruments), neurotechnology and spine solutions, and patient-handling and emergency medical equipment.

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