Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) Shares Sold by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 24,773,839 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 718,646 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $1,949,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Medtronic during the fourth quarter worth about $1,229,726,000. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Medtronic during the 1st quarter worth approximately $259,160,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Medtronic by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,884,412 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,691,577,000 after purchasing an additional 2,044,109 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in Medtronic by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,500,562 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $617,896,000 after purchasing an additional 1,769,985 shares during the period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in Medtronic by 145.4% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,372,641 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $195,431,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405,978 shares in the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Medtronic from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Medtronic from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Daiwa America raised Medtronic to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Medtronic presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.92.

Medtronic Stock Performance

Shares of Medtronic stock opened at $90.00 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $83.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.79. Medtronic plc has a 52 week low of $68.84 and a 52 week high of $91.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.84.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The medical technology company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.90 billion. Medtronic had a net margin of 12.06% and a return on equity of 13.68%. Medtronic’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.82%.

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.