Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.84

Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.84 per share by the medical technology company on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%.

Stryker has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.8% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Stryker has a payout ratio of 22.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Stryker to earn $14.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.5%.

Stryker Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SYK traded up $3.58 on Wednesday, reaching $395.97. 64,329 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,486,165. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.95 billion, a PE ratio of 51.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The company’s 50 day moving average is $376.87 and its 200-day moving average is $364.00. Stryker has a fifty-two week low of $314.93 and a fifty-two week high of $406.19.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The medical technology company reported $4.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Stryker will post 13.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Stryker news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 201,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.24, for a total value of $78,993,998.08. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,642,075 shares in the company, valued at $1,428,567,498. This trade 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 this link. Also, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 100,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,879,954.90. This trade represents a 36.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SYK shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Stryker from $380.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Stryker from $384.00 to $427.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Stryker from $378.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research 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 research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Stryker from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $419.37.

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.