Berkshire Bank Acquires 1,030 Shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Berkshire Bank lifted its holdings in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,489 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,030 shares during the period. Berkshire Bank’s holdings in Stryker were worth $3,056,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SYK. Scientech Research LLC boosted its stake in shares of Stryker by 46.3% during the second quarter. Scientech Research LLC now owns 1,527 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Stryker by 73.8% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in Stryker by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 3,790 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Stryker by 0.9% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 79,875 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $27,178,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares during the period. Finally, Silver Lake Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Stryker during the second quarter valued at about $296,000. 77.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Stryker Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Stryker stock opened at $399.83 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $376.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $361.15. Stryker Co. has a 52-week low of $310.74 and a 52-week high of $400.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.42 billion, a PE ratio of 42.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.95.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The medical technology company reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.10. Stryker had a return on equity of 23.07% and a net margin of 16.34%. The business had revenue of $5.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. The company’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Stryker Co. will post 12.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Stryker’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SYK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Stryker from $375.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $420.00 target price (up from $380.00) on shares of Stryker in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Stryker from $380.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Stryker in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Stryker from $411.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $405.80.

Insider Transactions at Stryker

In related news, CEO Kevin Lobo sold 57,313 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.70, for a total transaction of $21,131,303.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 100,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,879,954.90. This represents a 36.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

About Stryker

Stryker Corporation operates as a medical technology company. The company operates through two segments, MedSurg and Neurotechnology, and Orthopaedics and Spine. The Orthopaedics and Spine segment provides implants for use in total joint replacements, such as hip, knee and shoulder, and trauma and extremities surgeries.