Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Stryker (NYSE:SYK)

Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 3,175 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 104% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,553 call options.

Stryker Stock Performance

Shares of SYK opened at $330.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $126.76 billion, a PE ratio of 38.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $312.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $336.94. Stryker has a 12-month low of $281.00 and a 12-month high of $404.87.

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

Stryker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Stryker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SYK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Stryker from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Evercore set a $350.00 price target on Stryker in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Leerink Partners cut their price target on Stryker from $410.00 to $407.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $361.00 price objective on shares of Stryker in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Argus set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Stryker in a report on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $392.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Stryker news, VP Robert S. Fletcher sold 4,544 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.87, for a total value of $1,394,417.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 10,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,247,298.34. This trade represents a 30.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 310,000 shares of Stryker 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 transaction, the director directly owned 1,924,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $601,005,282.40. This represents a 13.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 323,264 shares of company stock valued at $100,659,489. Corporate insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SYK. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Stryker during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,822,272,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Stryker by 35,047.0% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 2,914,741 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,024,444,000 after purchasing an additional 2,906,448 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Stryker by 22.6% during the 4th 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. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Stryker by 104.4% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,245,841 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $887,525,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Stryker by 241.9% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,555,638 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $511,167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100,673 shares during the period. 77.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stryker Company Profile

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.