Evercore Has Lowered Expectations for Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) Stock Price

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) had its price objective cut by stock analysts at Evercore from $550.00 to $480.00 in a report released on Monday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the medical equipment provider’s stock. Evercore’s price target indicates a potential upside of 5.14% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. UBS Group lowered their target price on Intuitive Surgical from $570.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. HSBC boosted their price target on Intuitive Surgical from $644.00 to $653.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $740.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Intuitive Surgical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $590.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Intuitive Surgical from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $611.77.

Intuitive Surgical Stock Up 1.0%

Intuitive Surgical stock traded up $4.48 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $456.55. The stock had a trading volume of 60,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,909,207. The firm has a market cap of $162.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.68. Intuitive Surgical has a 52-week low of $425.00 and a 52-week high of $603.88. The company has a fifty day moving average of $487.43 and a 200 day moving average of $514.21.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Patricia L. Wadors sold 220 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $499.71, for a total transaction of $109,936.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Myriam Curet sold 105 shares of Intuitive Surgical stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.95, for a total transaction of $51,864.75. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 32,943 shares of company stock valued at $17,279,568 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intuitive Surgical

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ISRG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Intuitive Surgical by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,701,591 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $8,892,753,000 after buying an additional 162,264 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Intuitive Surgical by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,856,018 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $4,449,491,000 after buying an additional 127,526 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Intuitive Surgical in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,856,987,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,128,735 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,338,350,000 after buying an additional 611,268 shares in the last quarter. 83.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.