LGT Group Foundation Sells 9,762 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

LGT Group Foundation lowered its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 12.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,541 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 9,762 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $5,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Medtronic during the third quarter worth $694,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 14,000 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 18,057 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 56,178 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 16,786 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MDT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Medtronic from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Medtronic has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.00.

Medtronic Stock Performance

Shares of MDT opened at $94.20 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.90. Medtronic plc has a 52-week low of $75.96 and a 52-week high of $94.93.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The medical technology company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.33 billion. Medtronic had a return on equity of 14.07% and a net margin of 12.83%. Research analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.11%.

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.