Brett A. Wall Sells 9,850 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) Stock

Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of Medtronic stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total transaction of $792,038.50. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Medtronic Trading Down 2.5 %

MDT stock traded down $2.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $80.62. 7,067,217 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,406,823. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $84.17 and its 200-day moving average is $84.89. The company has a market cap of $103.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.83. 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 52-week low of $75.96 and a 52-week high of $92.68.

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

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.63%.

Institutional Trading of Medtronic

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MDT. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Medtronic by 436.7% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 5,975,110 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Medtronic by 65.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 4,546,819 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $406,122,000 after buying an additional 1,790,483 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Medtronic by 1,195.9% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,837,600 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $144,637,000 after acquiring an additional 1,695,800 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Medtronic by 58.4% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,850,914 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $346,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,263 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Medtronic by 8,908.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,298,415 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $116,896,000 after purchasing an additional 1,284,002 shares during the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MDT. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Medtronic has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.00.

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.