Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,850,000 shares, an increase of 8.5% from the October 15th total of 3,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,200,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jamie Samath sold 269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.89, for a total transaction of $145,230.41. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,757 shares in the company, valued at $4,727,816.73. This trade represents a 2.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Henry L. Charlton sold 40,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $486.84, for a total transaction of $19,591,902.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,461,006.84. The trade was a 93.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 91,178 shares of company stock valued at $45,897,071 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intuitive Surgical

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,050,121 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,393,673,000 after buying an additional 210,363 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 8.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,971,085 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $5,389,765,000 after buying an additional 838,793 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,512,925 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $3,677,194,000 after buying an additional 143,440 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Intuitive Surgical by 1.0% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,284,269 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $2,907,079,000 after buying an additional 73,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Intuitive Surgical by 1.8% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,782,381 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,349,441,000 after purchasing an additional 86,208 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ISRG shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $440.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Intuitive Surgical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $380.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical from $475.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $538.00 price objective (up from $495.00) on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Intuitive Surgical presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $524.61.

Intuitive Surgical Stock Performance

NASDAQ ISRG opened at $531.64 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $189.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.47, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $500.33 and a 200-day moving average of $459.58. Intuitive Surgical has a 52-week low of $304.50 and a 52-week high of $544.38.

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

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.