Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC lowered its position in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,466 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 167 shares during the quarter. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $277,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Insight Inv LLC boosted its position in Medtronic by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 14,906 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,191,000 after buying an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Advocate Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 106,776 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $8,529,000 after acquiring an additional 4,897 shares during the last quarter. Vantage Wealth increased its stake in shares of Medtronic by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Vantage Wealth now owns 226,315 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $18,078,000 after acquiring an additional 18,800 shares during the period. Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 59,878 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $4,783,000 after purchasing an additional 5,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Medtronic by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 62,258 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $4,973,000 after purchasing an additional 4,224 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Price Performance

NYSE:MDT opened at $90.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $115.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $83.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.50. Medtronic plc has a 12 month low of $75.96 and a 12 month high of $92.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.01. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.79% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. Medtronic’s payout ratio is 85.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MDT shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Medtronic from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Medtronic from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Medtronic from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Medtronic 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 directly owns 40,708 shares in the company, valued at $3,273,330.28. This represents a 19.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.