Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Sells 802,601 Shares of Intuitive Surgical, Inc. $ISRG

Key Points

• Rakuten Investment Management sharply reduced its stake in Intuitive Surgical, selling 802,601 shares in the fourth quarter and cutting its holdings by 92.4% to 65,937 shares worth about $37.9 million.
• Insiders have also been selling: Director Amy L. Ladd and SVP Iman Jeddi both sold shares under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans, and insiders have sold 7,169 shares worth about $3.06 million over the last three months.
• Analysts remain mostly positive on ISRG despite some lower price targets, with 19 Buy ratings, 7 Hold ratings, and 1 Sell rating; the consensus price target is $571.28 versus a recent share price of $416.55.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG - Free Report) by 92.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 65,937 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock after selling 802,601 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Intuitive Surgical were worth $37,940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Intuitive Surgical in the 4th quarter valued at $250,000. L2 Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Intuitive Surgical by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC now owns 1,773 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock valued at $1,004,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 71 West Capital Partners purchased a new position in shares of Intuitive Surgical during the 4th quarter worth $675,000. SurgoCap Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Intuitive Surgical during the 4th quarter worth $148,868,000. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Intuitive Surgical during the 4th quarter worth $54,371,000. 83.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Intuitive Surgical

In other news, Director Amy L. Ladd sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.46, for a total transaction of $236,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,156.94. This represents a 67.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Iman Jeddi sold 5,625 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $420.55, for a total value of $2,365,593.75. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,718,014.65. This represents a 46.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 7,169 shares of company stock worth $3,059,135 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on ISRG shares. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $622.00 to $573.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $574.00 price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Intuitive Surgical from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $590.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Evercore reduced their price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $550.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $660.00 to $585.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $571.28.

Intuitive Surgical Price Performance

ISRG stock opened at $416.55 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $442.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $494.54. Intuitive Surgical, Inc. has a 12 month low of $396.68 and a 12 month high of $603.88. The company has a market cap of $147.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.46.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical equipment provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.42. Intuitive Surgical had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 15.98%. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.81 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Intuitive Surgical, Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current year.

About Intuitive Surgical

Intuitive Surgical, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, is a medical technology company focused on the design, manufacture and service of robotic-assisted surgical systems. The company is best known for its da Vinci surgical systems, which enable minimally invasive procedures by translating a surgeon's hand movements into finer, scaled motions of small instruments inside the patient. Intuitive's business centers on supplying hospitals and surgical centers with systems, instruments and related technologies that aim to improve precision, visualization and control in the operating room.

In addition to its core surgical platforms, Intuitive markets a portfolio of reusable and disposable instruments, accessories, and proprietary software, and provides training, servicing and clinical support to its customers.

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