Medtronic Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:MDT)

Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 25,075 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 117% compared to the average volume of 11,538 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on MDT shares. Weiss Ratings cut Medtronic from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Leerink Partners dropped their price objective on Medtronic from $117.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their target price on Medtronic from $111.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Medtronic from $100.00 to $78.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Medtronic news, EVP Harry Skip Kiil sold 4,189 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.44, for a total value of $336,963.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,994,539.88. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Medtronic

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MDT. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in Medtronic by 2.6% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,234,550 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $117,579,000 after acquiring an additional 31,314 shares during the period. CSM Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Medtronic by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. CSM Advisors LLC now owns 285,260 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $27,169,000 after purchasing an additional 33,167 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Medtronic by 164.8% during the 3rd quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,204 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,305,000 after purchasing an additional 15,062 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 195,216 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $18,752,000 after purchasing an additional 25,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ticino Wealth acquired a new position in Medtronic during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,049,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:MDT traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $80.81. The stock had a trading volume of 4,138,763 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,327,269. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The company has a market capitalization of $103.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.58. Medtronic has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $106.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.80.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 3rd. The medical technology company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Medtronic had a return on equity of 14.51% and a net margin of 13.20%.The firm had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. Medtronic’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Medtronic has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.900-6.000 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Medtronic will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 26th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 26th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from Medtronic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.14%.

Medtronic Company Profile

Medtronic plc is a global medical technology company that develops and manufactures a broad range of therapeutic devices and health care solutions. Headquartered legally in Ireland with principal operational offices in the United States, the company markets products to hospitals, physicians and health systems worldwide and has grown from its founding in 1949 into one of the largest medical-device manufacturers serving global health-care markets.

Medtronic’s offerings span several clinical areas, including cardiac rhythm and heart failure (pacemakers, implantable cardioverter‑defibrillators and related cardiac therapies), minimally invasive and surgical technologies (laparoscopic and advanced energy devices, visualization systems and surgical innovations), restorative therapies (spine and orthopedics, neuromodulation and neurovascular treatments) and diabetes management (insulin-delivery systems and glucose monitoring solutions).