Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Buys 3,241 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 25.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,809 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,241 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $1,378,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Medtronic during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new position in Medtronic during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Medtronic during the first quarter worth $33,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC grew its stake in Medtronic by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 460 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its stake in Medtronic by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 479 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MDT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Medtronic from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Medtronic from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Medtronic in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “sell” rating and a $83.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Medtronic from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.90.

Medtronic Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Medtronic stock traded down $0.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $80.32. The stock had a trading volume of 7,396,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,330,835. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $80.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $102.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.82. Medtronic plc has a 12-month low of $68.84 and a 12-month high of $89.18.

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

Medtronic Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a positive change from Medtronic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.82%.

Insider Activity

In other Medtronic news, CEO Geoffrey Martha sold 19,113 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.77, for a total transaction of $1,601,096.01. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,008,261.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About Medtronic

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.