Stryker Corporation (SYK): Hedge Fund and Insider Sentiment Unchanged, What Should You Do?

Is Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) a buy?

To the average investor, there are a multitude of metrics shareholders can use to analyze stocks. Some of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best investment managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Just as necessary, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the stock market universe. There are lots of reasons for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if you know where to look (learn more here).

Now that that’s out of the way, it’s important to discuss the latest info about Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK).

What have hedge funds been doing with Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK)?

Heading into Q3, a total of 27 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Yacktman Asset Management, managed by Donald Yacktman, holds the most valuable position in Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK). Yacktman Asset Management has a $781.9 million position in the stock, comprising 3.7% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, with a $76.5 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers with similar optimism include Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management and David Harding’s Winton Capital Management.

As Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) has witnessed declining interest from the smart money’s best and brightest, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few fund managers that slashed their positions entirely heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management cut the largest investment of the 450+ funds we watch, totaling close to $2.1 million in stock, and John Overdeck and David Siegel of Two Sigma Advisors was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $1.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How have insiders been trading Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK)?

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time period, Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK). These stocks are Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT), St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ), Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE:MDT), Zimmer Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ZMH), and Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG). All of these stocks are in the medical appliances & equipment industry and their market caps match SYK’s market cap.