Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lessened its holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 140,166 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 3,699 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $12,215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MDT. Waverly Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Medtronic in the third quarter valued at about $257,000. Hodges Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 6.3% in the third quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,617 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,086,000 after purchasing an additional 1,583 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 13.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,225,204 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $95,933,000 after buying an additional 149,425 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 7.9% during the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,189,483 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $93,208,000 after buying an additional 87,110 shares during the period. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 0.9% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 354,467 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $27,776,000 after buying an additional 3,018 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $92.00 price target on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Medtronic from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.70.

Medtronic Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE MDT traded down $0.56 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $76.56. 2,336,213 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,308,372. Medtronic plc has a 12 month low of $68.84 and a 12 month high of $91.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.17 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50 day moving average of $81.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.53.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The medical technology company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.01. Medtronic had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 13.47%. The company had revenue of $8.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.57 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Medtronic plc will post 5.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Medtronic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This is an increase from Medtronic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.82%.

Insider Transactions at Medtronic

In other news, CEO Geoffrey Martha sold 19,113 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.77, for a total value of $1,601,096.01. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,008,261.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Michael Marinaro sold 854 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.14, for a total value of $71,001.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,321,684.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Geoffrey Martha sold 19,113 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.77, for a total transaction of $1,601,096.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,008,261.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.30% 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.