Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) Cut to “Hold” at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has $85.00 price objective on the medical technology company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $100.00.

MDT has been the subject of several other reports. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on Medtronic from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Medtronic in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a sell rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Medtronic in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Medtronic from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $91.30.

Medtronic Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE MDT opened at $84.60 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.48 billion, a PE ratio of 30.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.82. Medtronic has a one year low of $68.84 and a one year high of $89.18. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $80.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.37.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 23rd. The medical technology company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. Medtronic had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 13.47%. The company’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.57 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Medtronic will post 5.44 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This is a boost from Medtronic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Geoffrey Martha sold 19,113 shares of the firm’s 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 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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Medtronic in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,229,726,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Medtronic by 54.5% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,409,680 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $775,169,000 after buying an additional 3,320,800 shares during the period. M&G Plc bought a new stake in Medtronic in the 1st quarter worth $259,160,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Medtronic by 7.1% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 2,044,109 shares during the period. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Medtronic by 30.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,769,985 shares during the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.