Claro Advisors LLC Sells 3,245 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Claro Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,341 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 3,245 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $1,146,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MDT. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC grew its position in Medtronic by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 9,558 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $861,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Medtronic by 0.9% during 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 buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank raised its stake in shares of Medtronic by 1.8% in the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6,417 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hardy Reed LLC increased its holdings in Medtronic by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 2,743 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on MDT shares. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Medtronic from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $98.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays upped their target price on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Medtronic from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Medtronic presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Medtronic news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,708 shares in the company, valued at $3,273,330.28. This represents a 19.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Stock Performance

MDT stock traded up $1.15 during trading on Monday, reaching $81.81. 3,861,966 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,865,209. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $83.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.95. The firm has a market cap of $104.90 billion, a PE ratio of 25.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.83. Medtronic plc has a 1-year low of $75.96 and a 1-year high of $92.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.