Farther Finance Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 50.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 57,522 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,242 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $4,595,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Medtronic during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Medtronic during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Stephens Consulting LLC grew its holdings in Medtronic by 145.7% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 344 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP acquired a new position in Medtronic during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Medtronic during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MDT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Medtronic in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. 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 report on Tuesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Medtronic from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Medtronic presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.07.

Medtronic Trading Down 1.8 %

Medtronic stock opened at $91.58 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $89.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80. Medtronic plc has a 52-week low of $75.96 and a 52-week high of $96.25.

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

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 12,437 shares of Medtronic stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,119,330.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,688,110. This trade represents a 23.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.20% of the stock is 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.