Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 44.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,442,595 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 1,167,322 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $115,235,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Medtronic in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $694,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 87,000 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $7,833,000 after acquiring an additional 14,000 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 32.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 73,517 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,873,000 after acquiring an additional 18,057 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 322.6% in the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 73,593 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $6,626,000 after acquiring an additional 56,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 278,065 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $22,212,000 after acquiring an additional 16,786 shares during the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total value of $792,038.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 40,708 shares in the company, valued at $3,273,330.28. This represents a 19.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MDT. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Medtronic from $93.00 to $89.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.00.

Medtronic Trading Down 7.3 %

Shares of MDT stock opened at $86.05 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.34 billion, a PE ratio of 26.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $85.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.99. Medtronic plc has a 1 year low of $75.96 and a 1 year high of $93.08.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The medical technology company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.79% and a net margin of 13.00%. As a group, research analysts expect that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.63%.

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.