Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) Shares Purchased by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 633,609 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after buying an additional 20,806 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $50,613,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,567 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $445,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Medtronic in the 4th quarter worth about $78,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Medtronic by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 5,717 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the period. Keystone Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Medtronic during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Medtronic by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 164,576 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $13,146,000 after buying an additional 9,451 shares during the period. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Medtronic news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total value of $792,038.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 40,708 shares in the company, valued at $3,273,330.28. The trade was a 19.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MDT has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a report on Monday, November 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.00.

Medtronic Stock Performance

Medtronic stock opened at $90.01 on Friday. Medtronic plc has a fifty-two week low of $75.96 and a fifty-two week high of $93.08. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $115.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.84.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.27 billion. Medtronic had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 13.79%. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.63%.

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.