LVW Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

LVW Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,707 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,358 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $1,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Medtronic in the third quarter worth approximately $694,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings 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 worth $7,833,000 after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its position in Medtronic by 32.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in Medtronic by 322.6% during the third 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 increased its position in Medtronic by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 278,065 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $22,212,000 after buying an additional 16,786 shares in the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Medtronic

In related news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 40,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,273,330.28. This represents a 19.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Medtronic from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.00.

Medtronic Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of MDT opened at $88.23 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.83. Medtronic plc has a 1 year low of $75.96 and a 1 year high of $92.68. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.16. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $8.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. Medtronic’s payout ratio is presently 85.63%.

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.