Needham & Company LLC Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Stryker (NYSE:SYK) Stock

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) had its price objective lifted by Needham & Company LLC from $409.00 to $442.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the medical technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Stryker from $383.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Stryker from $375.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on Stryker from $366.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Stryker from $402.00 to $418.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Stryker from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $445.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Stryker currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $404.35.

Stryker Stock Performance

Shares of Stryker stock opened at $374.60 on Thursday. Stryker has a one year low of $285.79 and a one year high of $398.20. The company has a market cap of $142.81 billion, a PE ratio of 40.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.94. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $373.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $355.03.

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

Stryker Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.84 dividend. This is a positive change from Stryker’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Stryker’s payout ratio is currently 34.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kevin Lobo sold 57,313 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.70, for a total value of $21,131,303.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,879,954.90. The trade was a 36.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP M Kathryn Fink sold 7,347 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $366.98, for a total value of $2,696,202.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,042 shares in the company, valued at $3,685,213.16. This represents a 42.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stryker

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Stryker by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,582,959 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,279,788,000 after buying an additional 316,404 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Stryker by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,306,994 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,639,725,000 after buying an additional 215,782 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Stryker by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,905,126 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,484,893,000 after buying an additional 165,490 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Stryker by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,323,452 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $790,554,000 after buying an additional 66,482 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker during the 3rd quarter valued at about $762,798,000. 77.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stryker Company Profile

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.