Essex Financial Services Inc. Increases Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,003 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,194 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $1,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. LifeSteps Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Medtronic during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Medtronic in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in Medtronic during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Medtronic during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Medtronic in the first quarter worth about $39,000. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Geoffrey Martha sold 19,113 shares of Medtronic stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.77, for a total value of $1,601,096.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,348 shares in the company, valued at $12,008,261.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MDT. Barclays boosted their price objective on Medtronic from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Medtronic in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “sell” rating and a $83.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective on shares of Medtronic in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Medtronic from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Medtronic from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.92.

Medtronic Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Medtronic stock traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $88.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,940,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,969,357. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $81.32 and a 200-day moving average of $82.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.13. The stock has a market cap of $113.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.82. Medtronic plc has a twelve month low of $68.84 and a twelve month high of $90.13.

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. Medtronic had a net margin of 12.06% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The business had revenue of $7.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.82%.

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.