Whipplewood Advisors LLC Takes Position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,496 shares of the medical technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Medtronic by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,731,367 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,509,155,000 after buying an additional 520,027 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Medtronic by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,582,993 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $772,727,000 after buying an additional 275,870 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Medtronic by 436.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 7,343,385 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $661,125,000 after buying an additional 5,975,110 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Medtronic by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,893,720 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $530,612,000 after buying an additional 609,391 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Medtronic by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 5,842,020 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $525,960,000 after buying an additional 164,700 shares during the period. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Medtronic in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Medtronic has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Medtronic news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the business’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 40,708 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Stock Performance

MDT opened at $90.67 on Friday. Medtronic plc has a 52-week low of $75.96 and a 52-week high of $93.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $116.26 billion, a PE ratio of 27.56, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.90. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.35.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The medical technology company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. Medtronic had a return on equity of 14.07% and a net margin of 12.83%. The business had revenue of $8.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.33 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.11%.

Medtronic Company 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.