Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Trims Stock Position in Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK - Free Report) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,534 shares of the medical technology company's stock after selling 1,400 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Stryker were worth $12,111,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Stryker by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,564 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $1,643,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Stryker by 43.7% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,239 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $808,000 after purchasing an additional 681 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stryker during the fourth quarter valued at about $169,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Stryker by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 6,250 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $2,250,000 after buying an additional 595 shares during the period. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Stryker by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 77.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Stryker Stock Performance

Stryker stock traded up $3.30 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $393.70. The stock had a trading volume of 2,216,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,346,944. Stryker Corporation has a 52-week low of $314.93 and a 52-week high of $406.19. The company has a market capitalization of $150.27 billion, a PE ratio of 53.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.91. The firm's fifty day moving average is $379.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $375.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical technology company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.11. Stryker had a return on equity of 23.74% and a net margin of 12.31%. The business had revenue of $5.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Stryker Corporation will post 13.47 EPS for the current year.

Stryker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Stryker's payout ratio is presently 45.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SYK has been the topic of several research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Stryker in a research report on Monday, May 5th. BTIG Research set a $403.00 target price on Stryker and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $450.00 price target on Stryker in a research report on Monday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $422.00 price objective on Stryker in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Stryker from $405.00 to $456.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $427.30.

Insider Activity at Stryker

In other news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 200,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.96, for a total transaction of $75,392,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,417,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,288,195,208.96. This represents a 5.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 5.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.