Swiss National Bank Sells 183,000 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,623,066 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 183,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.28% of Medtronic worth $289,411,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Medtronic by 753.8% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 333 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 2,255.1% in the fourth quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 870,956 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $69,572,000 after buying an additional 833,975 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 33,233 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,655,000 after buying an additional 1,706 shares in the last quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Medtronic in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Medtronic by 50.3% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 57,522 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $4,595,000 after acquiring an additional 19,242 shares in the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Medtronic

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 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. The trade was a 19.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MDT has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup raised Medtronic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $92.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Medtronic in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Medtronic has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.07.

Medtronic Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of MDT opened at $91.58 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.90. Medtronic plc has a fifty-two week low of $75.96 and a fifty-two week high of $96.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $89.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.91. The firm has a market cap of $117.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $8.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.33 billion. Medtronic had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 14.07%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.11%.

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.