Welch & Forbes LLC Lowers Stake in Stryker Corporation $SYK

Welch & Forbes LLC decreased its position in Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 509,055 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 3,424 shares during the period. Stryker comprises approximately 2.2% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Stryker were worth $167,271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Stryker by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,907,291 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $11,917,396,000 after acquiring an additional 133,892 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Stryker by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,254,407 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,374,731,000 after acquiring an additional 311,507 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Stryker by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,535,572 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,636,238,000 after purchasing an additional 69,851 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Stryker by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,493,276 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,282,192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,198,665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in Stryker by 13.3% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,338,050 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,342,987,000 after purchasing an additional 741,542 shares during the period. 77.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $315.00 target price on shares of Stryker in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on shares of Stryker from $435.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Stryker from $420.00 to $385.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird set a $385.00 target price on shares of Stryker in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Stryker from $469.00 to $394.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $392.87.

Stryker Price Performance

Shares of Stryker stock traded up $2.75 on Friday, reaching $329.86. The stock had a trading volume of 2,724,614 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,471,298. The business’s 50 day moving average is $310.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $337.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Stryker Corporation has a 1 year low of $281.00 and a 1 year high of $404.87. The company has a market cap of $126.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.77.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical technology company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.38). The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.34 billion. Stryker had a return on equity of 23.42% and a net margin of 13.20%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.84 earnings per share. Stryker has set its FY 2026 guidance at 14.900-15.100 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Stryker Corporation will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

Stryker Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.74%.

Insider Transactions at Stryker

In other news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 310,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.23, for a total transaction of $96,791,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,924,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $601,005,282.40. This represents a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert S. Fletcher sold 4,544 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.87, for a total transaction of $1,394,417.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 10,582 shares in the company, valued at $3,247,298.34. This represents a 30.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 323,264 shares of company stock worth $100,659,489. 4.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Stryker

Stryker Corporation is a global medical technology company that designs, manufactures and markets a broad range of products and services for use in hospitals, surgeons’ offices and other healthcare facilities. Its primary business activities span orthopedics (including joint replacement implants, trauma and extremities products), surgical equipment and operating room technologies (such as visualization, navigation and powered instruments), neurotechnology and spine solutions, and patient-handling and emergency medical equipment.