Biltmore Wealth Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Biltmore Wealth Management LLC lowered its holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 9.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,415 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 669 shares during the quarter. Biltmore Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $505,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Boyar Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,655 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Hall Laurie J Trustee grew its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 0.3% during the first quarter. Hall Laurie J Trustee now owns 44,015 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $3,835,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 8.0% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,680 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $146,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 2.5% during the first quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC now owns 5,077 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 7,127 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $587,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MDT. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Medtronic from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Medtronic in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “sell” rating and a $83.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Medtronic from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Medtronic from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.90.

Insider Transactions at Medtronic

In other news, CEO Geoffrey Martha sold 19,113 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.77, for a total value of $1,601,096.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 143,348 shares in the company, valued at $12,008,261.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Price Performance

NYSE MDT traded down $0.17 on Friday, reaching $82.04. 3,094,299 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,274,704. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $105.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.82. Medtronic plc has a 12 month low of $68.84 and a 12 month high of $89.18.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 23rd. The medical technology company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.44 billion. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 11.36%. The company’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.57 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Medtronic plc will post 5.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This is a positive change from Medtronic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.82%.

Medtronic 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.