Westpac Banking Corp Cuts Position in Intuitive Surgical, Inc. $ISRG

Westpac Banking Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) by 30.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,366 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,931 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Intuitive Surgical were worth $1,953,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,599,661 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $15,026,776,000 after purchasing an additional 263,828 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Intuitive Surgical by 1.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,552,203 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $8,451,223,000 after buying an additional 182,871 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Intuitive Surgical by 1.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,188,685 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $4,429,590,000 after acquiring an additional 109,904 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Intuitive Surgical in the second quarter worth about $2,569,260,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Intuitive Surgical by 4.8% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,421,133 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,402,488,000 after acquiring an additional 201,159 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Fredrik Widman sold 133 shares of Intuitive Surgical stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $494.96, for a total transaction of $65,829.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 660 shares in the company, valued at $326,673.60. This trade represents a 16.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Mark Brosius sold 464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $548.49, for a total transaction of $254,499.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $71,852.19. This represents a 77.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 56,189 shares of company stock valued at $30,785,441 in the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ISRG. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $740.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $590.00 price objective (down from $635.00) on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Intuitive Surgical from $655.00 to $645.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Intuitive Surgical from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $616.00 price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Intuitive Surgical presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $615.86.

Intuitive Surgical Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ISRG opened at $506.88 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.01 billion, a PE ratio of 64.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $531.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $511.26. Intuitive Surgical, Inc. has a 1 year low of $425.00 and a 1 year high of $603.88.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The medical equipment provider reported $2.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.26. Intuitive Surgical had a return on equity of 15.06% and a net margin of 28.38%.The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Intuitive Surgical, Inc. will post 6.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intuitive Surgical Company Profile

Intuitive Surgical, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, is a medical technology company focused on the design, manufacture and service of robotic-assisted surgical systems. The company is best known for its da Vinci surgical systems, which enable minimally invasive procedures by translating a surgeon’s hand movements into finer, scaled motions of small instruments inside the patient. Intuitive’s business centers on supplying hospitals and surgical centers with systems, instruments and related technologies that aim to improve precision, visualization and control in the operating room.

In addition to its core surgical platforms, Intuitive markets a portfolio of reusable and disposable instruments, accessories, and proprietary software, and provides training, servicing and clinical support to its customers.