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

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $554.17.

ISRG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $525.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partners upped their price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $489.00 to $502.00 in a report on Thursday, October 17th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $535.00 to $561.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Intuitive Surgical from $567.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Intuitive Surgical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $522.00 to $650.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd.

Intuitive Surgical Price Performance

Intuitive Surgical stock opened at $521.96 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $532.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $489.68. The stock has a market cap of $185.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.38. Intuitive Surgical has a 1-year low of $320.26 and a 1-year high of $556.23.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The medical equipment provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.32. Intuitive Surgical had a return on equity of 13.41% and a net margin of 28.51%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. Equities analysts expect that Intuitive Surgical will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intuitive Surgical

In other Intuitive Surgical news, EVP Robert Desantis sold 376 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.00, for a total value of $202,664.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,506 shares in the company, valued at $2,967,734. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jamie Samath sold 108 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $542.06, for a total transaction of $58,542.48. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 8,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,746,819.42. This represents a 1.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,190 shares of company stock valued at $25,012,927. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intuitive Surgical

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ISRG. Mirador Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 1.4% during the third quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 3,526 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Exome Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Exome Asset Management LLC now owns 7,427 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the period. Consolidated Planning Corp grew its stake in Intuitive Surgical by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 8,099 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $3,979,000 after buying an additional 1,198 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in Intuitive Surgical by 617.1% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 89,069 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $39,622,000 after buying an additional 76,649 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Intuitive Surgical by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,052,800 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $517,209,000 after buying an additional 3,400 shares during the last quarter. 83.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Intuitive Surgical Company Profile

Intuitive Surgical, Inc develops, manufactures, and markets products that enable physicians and healthcare providers to enhance the quality of and access to minimally invasive care in the United States and internationally. The company offers the da Vinci Surgical System that enables complex surgery using a minimally invasive approach; and Ion endoluminal system, which extends its commercial offerings beyond surgery into diagnostic procedures enabling minimally invasive biopsies in the lung.