Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Raises Position in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,450 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Chicago Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Stryker by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 195,052 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $70,228,000 after acquiring an additional 5,841 shares during the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Stryker by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 114,889 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $41,366,000 after acquiring an additional 40,784 shares during the last quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA increased its position in shares of Stryker by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 29,222 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $10,521,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Stryker during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $587,000. Finally, Berkshire Bank increased its position in shares of Stryker by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 8,489 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $3,056,000 after acquiring an additional 1,030 shares during the last quarter. 77.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stryker Price Performance

NYSE:SYK opened at $388.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.96. Stryker Co. has a 52-week low of $314.93 and a 52-week high of $406.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $377.19 and a 200 day moving average of $366.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.14. Stryker had a return on equity of 23.58% and a net margin of 13.25%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Stryker Co. will post 13.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Stryker news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.24, for a total transaction of $78,993,998.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,642,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,428,567,498. The trade was a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on SYK. Morgan Stanley raised Stryker from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $445.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Stryker from $380.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Stryker from $420.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Stryker from $420.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on 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 sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $420.68.

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.