Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. decreased its position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 43.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,301 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 7,067 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of MDT. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Medtronic in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its stake in Medtronic by 425.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 315 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Medtronic by 317.0% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 367 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in Medtronic during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp acquired a new position in shares of Medtronic during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MDT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on Medtronic from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Medtronic from $89.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $92.00 price target on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.91.

Medtronic Trading Up 0.4 %

Medtronic stock traded up $0.34 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $87.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,448,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,236,794. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $85.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.87 billion, a PE ratio of 27.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.76. Medtronic plc has a 1 year low of $68.84 and a 1 year high of $92.02.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The medical technology company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.04. Medtronic had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 13.71%. The firm had revenue of $8.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Medtronic plc will post 5.2 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 22nd will be paid a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 21st. Medtronic’s payout ratio is currently 87.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Sean Salmon sold 30,695 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.13, for a total value of $2,613,065.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,110,842.57. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.