Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) Trading Up 0.7% – Still a Buy?

Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)’s share price traded up 0.7% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $88.46 and last traded at $88.49. 1,128,121 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 7,707,656 shares. The stock had previously closed at $87.84.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MDT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on Medtronic from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.00.

Medtronic Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market cap of $115.49 billion, a PE ratio of 27.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $83.75 and its 200-day moving average is $85.50.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.27 billion. Medtronic had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 13.79%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.63%.

Insider Activity at Medtronic

In related news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of Medtronic stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total transaction of $792,038.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,273,330.28. The trade was a 19.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Medtronic

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Medtronic by 68.1% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 51,014 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $4,015,000 after buying an additional 20,660 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 1,192.9% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 267,936 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $21,089,000 after acquiring an additional 247,213 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 7.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,445,131 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $113,486,000 after purchasing an additional 98,901 shares in the last quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Medtronic by 26.6% in the second quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 41,566 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $3,272,000 after acquiring an additional 8,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC boosted its position in Medtronic by 1,830.7% in the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 93,869 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $7,388,000 after buying an additional 89,007 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

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.