Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Increases Stock Position in Stryker Corporation $SYK

Key Points

• Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its stake in Stryker by 4.5% in Q4, adding 19,138 shares to hold 448,358 shares worth about $158.0 million (roughly 0.12% of the company).
• Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 250,000 shares on Feb. 4 at an average price of $362.92 for proceeds of $90.73 million, and corporate insiders now own about 4.6% of the company.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $421.11; Stryker trades near $327.63, has a PE of 39, a market cap of $125.5 billion, and pays a $0.88 quarterly dividend (annualized $3.52, ~1.1% yield).

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its position in shares of Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK - Free Report) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 448,358 shares of the medical technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 19,138 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned 0.12% of Stryker worth $158,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Stryker by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,773,399 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $12,485,012,000 after acquiring an additional 272,828 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in Stryker by 13.3% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,338,050 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $2,342,987,000 after buying an additional 741,542 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Stryker by 4.4% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,303,290 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $851,457,000 after buying an additional 96,662 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Stryker by 104.4% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,245,841 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $887,525,000 after buying an additional 1,146,998 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Stryker by 4.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,864,918 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $689,404,000 after buying an additional 80,536 shares during the period. 77.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SYK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Stryker in a research report on Monday, April 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Stryker from $400.00 to $380.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Stryker from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Stryker from $448.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Stryker from $403.00 to $357.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Stryker has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $421.11.

Insider Activity at Stryker

In other news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.92, for a total value of $90,730,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,457,331 shares in the company, valued at $891,814,566.52. This represents a 9.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Stryker Stock Down 3.2%

SYK stock opened at $327.63 on Wednesday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $351.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $359.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.48 billion, a PE ratio of 39.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.92. Stryker Corporation has a 12 month low of $319.32 and a 12 month high of $404.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The medical technology company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.40 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. Stryker had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 24.41%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Stryker Corporation will post 14.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Stryker's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.90%.

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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