Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) Raised to Outperform at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has $105.00 price target on the medical technology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $98.00.

MDT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Medtronic from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. UBS Group upgraded Medtronic from a sell rating to a neutral rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Daiwa America upgraded Medtronic to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Medtronic from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Medtronic from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Medtronic presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $95.14.

Medtronic Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE MDT traded up $0.30 during trading on Thursday, hitting $89.15. 378,145 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,269,225. Medtronic has a 12 month low of $68.84 and a 12 month high of $91.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $83.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $114.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.02, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.84.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The medical technology company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $7.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.90 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Medtronic will post 5.44 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Medtronic during the 1st quarter valued at $259,160,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,884,412 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,691,577,000 after buying an additional 2,044,109 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 1,195.9% in the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,837,600 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $144,637,000 after buying an additional 1,695,800 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 145.4% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,372,641 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $195,431,000 after buying an additional 1,405,978 shares during the period. Finally, Troy Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Medtronic in the 2nd quarter valued at $85,440,000. Institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Company Profile

Medtronic plc develops, manufactures, and sells device-based medical therapies to healthcare systems, physicians, clinicians, and patients worldwide. Its Cardiovascular Portfolio segment offers implantable cardiac pacemakers, cardioverter defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices; cardiac ablation products; insertable cardiac monitor systems; TYRX products; and remote monitoring and patient-centered software.