Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Sells 586 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,673 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 586 shares during the quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $535,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Medtronic during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its stake in shares of Medtronic by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 272,444 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $21,763,000 after purchasing an additional 9,689 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Medtronic during the 4th quarter valued at about $755,000. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its stake in shares of Medtronic by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 36,303 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,900,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Busey Bank grew its stake in shares of Medtronic by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Busey Bank now owns 155,084 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $12,388,000 after purchasing an additional 2,289 shares during the period. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MDT shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Medtronic from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Medtronic from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research note on Monday, November 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.00.

Medtronic Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE MDT opened at $90.74 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $84.29 and its 200 day moving average is $85.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Medtronic plc has a 12 month low of $75.96 and a 12 month high of $93.08. The stock has a market cap of $116.35 billion, a PE ratio of 27.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.63%.

Insider Transactions at Medtronic

In other news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total transaction of $792,038.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,273,330.28. This represents a 19.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.