Strengthening Families & Communities LLC Boosts Stock Position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Strengthening Families & Communities LLC grew its position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 8.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,118 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,833 shares during the quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $1,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Medtronic by 1.2% in the third quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 9,558 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $861,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Medtronic by 0.9% in the third quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 13,131 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Medtronic by 2.9% in the third quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,123 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Hardy Reed LLC lifted its position in shares of Medtronic by 4.4% in the third quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 2,743 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $247,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Precision Wealth Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 3.3% in the third quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 3,741 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MDT shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Medtronic from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays increased their price target on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Medtronic currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of Medtronic stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total value of $792,038.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,273,330.28. The trade was a 19.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE MDT opened at $90.84 on Tuesday. Medtronic plc has a twelve month low of $75.96 and a twelve month high of $93.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.48 billion, a PE ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.84.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last issued 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 business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Medtronic’s payout ratio is presently 85.63%.

About Medtronic

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.