Legal & General Group Plc Sells 640,072 Shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 22.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,187,886 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 640,072 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.57% of Stryker worth $787,748,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SYK. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Stryker by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,007,105 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $722,658,000 after buying an additional 266,587 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Stryker by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 549,836 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $197,969,000 after acquiring an additional 5,749 shares in the last quarter. Trek Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Stryker by 770.5% in the fourth quarter. Trek Financial LLC now owns 9,967 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $3,589,000 after purchasing an additional 8,822 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Stryker by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,034,844 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,892,946,000 after purchasing an additional 727,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Stryker by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 118,515 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $42,671,000 after purchasing an additional 4,470 shares during the last quarter. 77.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on SYK. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Stryker in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $422.00 target price on Stryker in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Stryker from $425.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on Stryker from $418.00 to $443.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Stryker from $420.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $421.90.

Stryker Stock Performance

NYSE:SYK opened at $346.14 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $381.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $374.39. Stryker Co. has a 1-year low of $314.93 and a 1-year high of $406.19. The stock has a market cap of $132.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.61, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.95.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.14. Stryker had a net margin of 13.25% and a return on equity of 23.58%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Stryker Co. will post 13.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Stryker news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.24, for a total transaction of $78,993,998.08. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,642,075 shares in the company, valued at $1,428,567,498. This represents a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Allan C. Golston sold 2,458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $383.07, for a total transaction of $941,586.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,705,827.65. The trade was a 14.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.50% 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.