Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,609,917 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 51,694 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $234,971,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MDT. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Medtronic in the third quarter worth $694,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in Medtronic by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 87,000 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $7,833,000 after acquiring an additional 14,000 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in shares of Medtronic by 322.6% in the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 73,593 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $6,626,000 after acquiring an additional 56,178 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Medtronic during the third quarter valued at about $9,486,000. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 30.0% during the third quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 88,110 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $7,933,000 after purchasing an additional 20,352 shares during the period. 82.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Medtronic from $93.00 to $89.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their target price on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Medtronic to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Medtronic from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $98.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Medtronic from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.00.

Medtronic Price Performance

MDT stock opened at $79.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $87.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.97. Medtronic plc has a 52-week low of $75.96 and a 52-week high of $92.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.46, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.82.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.01. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.79% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Medtronic’s payout ratio is 85.63%.

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.