Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Sells 6,449 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lessened its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 263,451 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 6,449 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $20,736,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Equity Investment Corp increased its stake in Medtronic by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,341,079 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $110,478,000 after acquiring an additional 292,459 shares during the last quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. raised its stake in Medtronic by 1,467.5% during the first quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. now owns 47,902 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $4,175,000 after purchasing an additional 44,846 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Medtronic during the second quarter valued at $25,643,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Medtronic by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,034,214 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $85,199,000 after purchasing an additional 42,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Medtronic by 130.3% in the 1st quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 16,829 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $1,467,000 after buying an additional 9,523 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MDT traded up $0.50 during trading on Friday, reaching $89.89. 7,116,627 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,304,211. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.26 billion, a PE ratio of 32.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.60. Medtronic plc has a 12-month low of $68.84 and a 12-month high of $91.49.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 20th. The medical technology company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 12.06%. The firm had revenue of $7.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on MDT shares. Daiwa America upgraded Medtronic to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Citigroup dropped their target price on Medtronic from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Medtronic from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Medtronic in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $83.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.92.

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.