Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Stryker Corporation $SYK

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group cut its Stryker stake by 8.1% in the first quarter, selling 44,653 shares and ending with 508,019 shares valued at about $166.9 million.
• Stryker reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter earnings, with EPS of $2.60 versus the $2.98 consensus and revenue of $6.02 billion versus $6.34 billion expected, though revenue still rose 2.6% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.88 per share, and analysts currently rate the stock a consensus “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $392.52.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK - Free Report) by 8.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 508,019 shares of the medical technology company's stock after selling 44,653 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.13% of Stryker worth $166,930,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Godfrey Financial Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Stryker during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Sankala Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. United Financial Planning Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Stryker in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Stryker during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, DJE Kapital AG purchased a new position in shares of Stryker during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors own 77.09% of the company's stock.

Stryker Price Performance

Stryker stock opened at $311.27 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $119.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $310.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $337.37. Stryker Corporation has a 1 year low of $281.00 and a 1 year high of $404.87.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical technology company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.38). Stryker had a return on equity of 23.42% and a net margin of 13.20%.The company 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 posted $2.84 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Stryker has set its FY 2026 guidance at 14.900-15.100 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Stryker Corporation will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Stryker's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stryker

In other news, VP M Kathryn Fink sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.45, for a total transaction of $992,075.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 177 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,170.65. This represents a 95.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 310,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.23, for a total value of $96,791,300.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,924,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $601,005,282.40. This represents a 13.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 323,264 shares of company stock valued at $100,659,489 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SYK shares. Evercore set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Stryker in a research report on Monday, July 6th. BTIG Research set a $371.00 target price on Stryker in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Stryker from $456.00 to $418.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Stryker from $454.00 to $418.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Stryker from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stryker currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $392.52.

About Stryker

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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