William Blair Investment Management LLC Has $8.63 Million Stake in Intuitive Surgical, Inc. $ISRG

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management cut its Intuitive Surgical stake by 31% in the fourth quarter, selling 6,835 shares and leaving it with 15,237 shares valued at about $8.63 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutional investors holding 83.64% of the company; several firms notably increased their positions during the period.
• Analysts remain mostly positive on Intuitive Surgical, with 19 Buy ratings, 7 Holds, and 1 Sell, implying a consensus Moderate Buy and an average price target of $579.33 despite some recent target cuts.

William Blair Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG - Free Report) by 31.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,237 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock after selling 6,835 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC's holdings in Intuitive Surgical were worth $8,630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 791,516 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Intuitive Surgical by 29.7% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 3,227,472 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $1,451,362,000 after purchasing an additional 739,444 shares during the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Intuitive Surgical by 77.0% during the third quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 1,341,109 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $599,784,000 after purchasing an additional 583,539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 41.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,941,310 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock valued at $868,212,000 after purchasing an additional 567,483 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays set a $651.00 target price on Intuitive Surgical and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $560.00 to $515.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $615.00 to $577.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $570.00 to $550.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, HSBC lowered their price objective 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. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $579.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intuitive Surgical

In other Intuitive Surgical news, SVP Mark Brosius sold 2,362 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.68, for a total value of $1,177,882.16. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 3,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,772,308.72. This trade represents a 39.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gary Loeb sold 400 shares of Intuitive Surgical stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $446.95, for a total transaction of $178,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 6,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,735,334. This trade represents a 6.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 5,701 shares of company stock valued at $2,783,807 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Intuitive Surgical Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ISRG opened at $436.64 on Wednesday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $457.08 and its 200-day moving average is $508.88. Intuitive Surgical, Inc. has a 52 week low of $417.74 and a 52 week high of $603.88. The firm has a market cap of $154.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.51.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical equipment provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.62 billion. Intuitive Surgical had a return on equity of 15.98% and a net margin of 28.15%.The firm's revenue was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ISRG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.