Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) Trading Up 0.4% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) were up 0.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $91.14 and last traded at $90.91. Approximately 774,523 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 7,310,062 shares. The stock had previously closed at $90.58.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MDT shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Medtronic from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Medtronic in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Medtronic presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.00.

Medtronic Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $117.97 billion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.42.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The medical technology company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.33 billion. Medtronic had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 14.07%. On average, research analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio is 85.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total transaction of $792,038.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,273,330.28. This represents a 19.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Medtronic

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Medtronic during the 3rd quarter valued at about $694,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in Medtronic by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 87,000 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $7,833,000 after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its holdings in Medtronic by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 73,517 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,873,000 after purchasing an additional 18,057 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in Medtronic by 322.6% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 73,593 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $6,626,000 after purchasing an additional 56,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Medtronic by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 278,065 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $22,212,000 after purchasing an additional 16,786 shares during the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.