Transcend Capital Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 13.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 61,911 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 9,644 shares during the quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $4,945,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MDT. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its stake in shares of Medtronic by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 24,854 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,985,000 after buying an additional 2,294 shares during the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Medtronic by 210.0% in the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,450 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $595,000 after acquiring an additional 5,047 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its stake in Medtronic by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 13,259 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $1,059,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the period. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Medtronic by 185.7% during the fourth quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 18,491 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $1,477,000 after purchasing an additional 12,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mattern Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 102,234 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $8,166,000 after purchasing an additional 4,256 shares during the period. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MDT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Medtronic from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Medtronic has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.20.

Medtronic Stock Performance

Shares of MDT stock opened at $88.14 on Friday. Medtronic plc has a 12-month low of $75.96 and a 12-month high of $93.08. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.03. 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 company has a market cap of $113.02 billion, a PE ratio of 26.79, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.84.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The medical technology company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.33 billion. Medtronic had a return on equity of 14.07% and a net margin of 12.83%. Analysts expect that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Medtronic

In related news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were 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 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 this link. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.