Wall Street Zen Downgrades Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) to Hold

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Intuitive Surgical from $650.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 13th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $483.00 target price (down from $577.00) on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $580.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho set a $500.00 price target on shares of Intuitive Surgical and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Evercore set a $430.00 price target on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a report on Monday, July 6th. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.68.

Intuitive Surgical Price Performance

Shares of Intuitive Surgical stock opened at $394.51 on Friday. Intuitive Surgical has a 1-year low of $328.57 and a 1-year high of $603.88. The company has a market capitalization of $139.37 billion, a PE ratio of 45.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.47. The business has a 50-day moving average of $391.45 and a 200-day moving average of $440.66.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. Intuitive Surgical had a return on equity of 16.91% and a net margin of 28.45%.The company’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.81 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Intuitive Surgical will post 8.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Intuitive Surgical

In other news, Director Gary S. Guthart sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total value of $4,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,245,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $498,271,600. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Amy L. Ladd sold 72 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.10, for a total value of $28,303.20. Following the sale, the director directly owned 179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,364.90. This represents a 28.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 17,088 shares of company stock valued at $6,941,913 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Intuitive Surgical

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Intuitive Surgical during the second quarter worth $970,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in shares of Intuitive Surgical in the 2nd quarter valued at about $236,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Intuitive Surgical in the 2nd quarter valued at about $89,000. Dearborn Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Intuitive Surgical during the 2nd quarter valued at about $312,000. Finally, Ally Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Intuitive Surgical during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,977,000. 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.