Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 23,609 Shares of Intuitive Surgical, Inc. $ISRG

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Intuitive Surgical by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, buying 23,609 additional shares. The fund now owns 416,522 shares valued at about $236.2 million.
• Several other large institutional investors also made major moves in ISRG, and 83.64% of the stock is held by institutions. Notable buyers included Norges Bank and J. Stern & Co. LLP, highlighting strong institutional interest.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with the stock carrying a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $573.42. Intuitive Surgical also beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $2.50 EPS on revenue of $2.77 billion, though insider sales were reported in recent months.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG - Free Report) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 416,522 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 23,609 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.12% of Intuitive Surgical worth $236,209,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Intuitive Surgical during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,856,987,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 18,504.6% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,127,248 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $1,204,788,000 after buying an additional 2,115,814 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 1,043.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,342,121 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock valued at $760,124,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224,734 shares in the last quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Intuitive Surgical during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $477,225,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 106.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,533,771 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock valued at $868,667,000 after acquiring an additional 791,516 shares during the last quarter. 83.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $558.00 target price on Intuitive Surgical in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $560.00 to $515.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $653.00 to $604.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $660.00 to $585.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Intuitive Surgical from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $573.42.

Intuitive Surgical Stock Up 0.1%

ISRG stock opened at $417.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $441.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $493.43. Intuitive Surgical, Inc. has a twelve month low of $396.68 and a twelve month high of $603.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.71 billion, a PE ratio of 50.55, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.46.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical equipment provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.81 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Intuitive Surgical, Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Iman Jeddi sold 5,625 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $420.55, for a total transaction of $2,365,593.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,463 shares in the company, valued at $2,718,014.65. The trade was a 46.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Amy L. Ladd sold 119 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.50, for a total transaction of $55,156.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,620. The trade was a 49.79% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,169 shares of company stock valued at $3,059,135. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Intuitive Surgical Profile

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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