Financial & Tax Architects LLC Has $6.01 Million Stock Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Financial & Tax Architects LLC boosted its stake in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 75,222 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,572 shares during the quarter. Medtronic comprises about 1.5% of Financial & Tax Architects LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Financial & Tax Architects LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $6,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Wallington Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Medtronic by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 194,542 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $15,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,413 shares during the period. CGN Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 37,187 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,971,000 after buying an additional 4,601 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 178,781 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $14,281,000 after buying an additional 2,683 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 64,624 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,162,000 after buying an additional 3,899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 7,460 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 2,031 shares in the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MDT shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of 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 lifted their price objective for the stock from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Medtronic

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,708 shares in the company, valued at $3,273,330.28. This trade represents a 19.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Medtronic Stock Performance

Shares of MDT stock traded up $1.07 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $88.23. 9,577,939 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,401,241. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $83.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.03. The company has a market cap of $113.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.83. Medtronic plc has a 12-month low of $75.96 and a 12-month high of $92.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Medtronic’s payout ratio is currently 85.63%.

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.