Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $615.8636.

A number of research firms have commented on ISRG. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $714.00 price target on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Argus lowered their price objective on Intuitive Surgical from $630.00 to $560.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective 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. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $616.00 target price on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a research report on Monday, December 29th.

Intuitive Surgical Stock Performance

ISRG stock opened at $490.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $174.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.12, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $521.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $512.28. Intuitive Surgical has a 52-week low of $425.00 and a 52-week high of $603.88.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. Intuitive Surgical had a net margin of 28.38% and a return on equity of 15.06%. Intuitive Surgical’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Intuitive Surgical will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Intuitive Surgical

In other news, SVP Mark Brosius sold 648 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $495.20, for a total transaction of $320,889.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,906 shares in the company, valued at $1,439,051.20. This represents a 18.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Patricia L. Wadors sold 220 shares of Intuitive Surgical stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $499.71, for a total transaction of $109,936.20. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 37,261 shares of company stock valued at $19,690,721 over the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ISRG. Riversedge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Intuitive Surgical by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 901 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 920 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $521,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its position in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 4,033 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,804,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Rossmore Private Capital increased its stake in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 998 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 112 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. 83.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Intuitive Surgical

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.