Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Sells 697 Shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co decreased its position in shares of Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,814 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 697 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Stryker were worth $1,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Stryker by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,459,393 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $11,258,373,000 after purchasing an additional 309,592 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in Stryker by 0.6% during the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 18,596,387 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $6,655,089,000 after purchasing an additional 108,080 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Stryker by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 12,541,845 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $3,755,782,000 after purchasing an additional 642,178 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Stryker by 10.4% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,651,403 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $3,096,078,000 after purchasing an additional 813,311 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Stryker by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,040,310 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $1,209,912,000 after purchasing an additional 101,319 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BTIG Research increased their target price on shares of Stryker from $360.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Stryker from $370.00 to $365.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Stryker from $345.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Stryker from $374.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $378.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stryker

In other news, VP M Kathryn Fink sold 2,121 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $784,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 10,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,715,540. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, VP M Kathryn Fink sold 2,121 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $784,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 10,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,715,540. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Viju Menon sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.00, for a total transaction of $213,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,219,495. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 220,068 shares of company stock valued at $71,811,372. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Stryker Stock Performance

NYSE:SYK opened at $364.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $138.71 billion, a PE ratio of 41.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $343.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $342.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.68. Stryker Co. has a fifty-two week low of $249.98 and a fifty-two week high of $374.63.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The medical technology company reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.79 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. Stryker had a net margin of 16.12% and a return on equity of 22.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.54 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Stryker Co. will post 12 earnings per share for the current year.

Stryker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.53%.

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.