Dodge & Cox Acquires 897,635 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 13.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,661,125 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 897,635 shares during the quarter. Dodge & Cox owned 0.60% of Medtronic worth $611,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Medtronic during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 145.7% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 344 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 753.8% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 333 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Medtronic during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in Medtronic in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Stock Performance

Shares of MDT stock opened at $84.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $107.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $89.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.60. Medtronic plc has a one year low of $75.96 and a one year high of $96.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The medical technology company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. Medtronic had a return on equity of 14.07% and a net margin of 12.83%. The firm had revenue of $8.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.33 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 28th. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MDT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Medtronic from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Medtronic in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Medtronic from $93.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Medtronic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $92.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 12,437 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $1,119,330.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 40,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,688,110. This trade represents a 23.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.