Amy Ladd Sells 400 Shares of Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) Stock

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) Director Amy Ladd sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.00, for a total value of $151,600.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,129. This trade represents a 61.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Intuitive Surgical Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of Intuitive Surgical stock opened at $401.27 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $392.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $442.47. The company has a market cap of $141.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.96, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.46. Intuitive Surgical, Inc. has a 1 year low of $328.57 and a 1 year high of $603.88.

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

Institutional Trading of Intuitive Surgical

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Intuitive Surgical in the second quarter worth about $41,000. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Intuitive Surgical during the second quarter valued at approximately $628,000. Compass Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in Intuitive Surgical during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Alta Advisers Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Intuitive Surgical in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $565,000. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Intuitive Surgical in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $791,000. Institutional investors own 83.64% of the company’s stock.

More Intuitive Surgical News

Here are the key news stories impacting Intuitive Surgical this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer upgraded ISRG to Outperform and set a $500 price target, citing the company’s ability to “crowd out” competitors. The firm believes Medtronic’s Hugo and Intuitive’s Ottava systems pose limited near-term threats to the da Vinci franchise because of workflow, operating-room real-estate and adoption challenges. Oppenheimer upgrade report
• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein reiterated its Buy rating and maintained a $685 price target, pointing to progress on Intuitive’s next-generation gastrointestinal platform. Longer term, continued da Vinci 5 adoption, recurring instruments and service revenue, and expansion into additional procedures support the company’s growth outlook. Bernstein rating report
• Positive Sentiment: The ENCOMPASS post-market study is highlighting Intuitive’s opportunity in robotic-assisted lung biopsy. Progress in this clinical program could broaden use of the Ion platform and create additional recurring procedure-related revenue. ENCOMPASS trial report
• Neutral Sentiment: Intuitive’s second-quarter results were strong, with revenue up 18.4% to $2.89 billion and EPS of $2.80 versus the $2.48 consensus estimate. However, investors are focusing more on forward procedure growth than on the earnings beat.
• Negative Sentiment: U.S. procedure growth slowed in the second quarter. Analysts attributed some of the weakness to Affordable Care Act-related care deferrals, which could be temporary, but the issue raises near-term uncertainty around demand and revenue growth. U.S. procedure growth report
• Negative Sentiment: Insiders reported several sales, including Director Gary Guthart’s 10,000-share sale for approximately $4 million and smaller sales by Director Amy Ladd and EVP Gary Loeb. The trades were conducted under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, reducing their value as a discretionary bearish signal, but they may weigh modestly on sentiment.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ISRG has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen raised Intuitive Surgical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. BTIG Research reduced their price objective on Intuitive Surgical from $512.00 to $469.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Intuitive Surgical from $560.00 to $515.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Twenty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $508.68.

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.