Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Grows Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC raised its position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 15.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 111,645 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after buying an additional 15,281 shares during the period. Medtronic makes up about 1.4% of Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $10,032,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MDT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Medtronic by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 124,203,387 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $9,921,367,000 after buying an additional 754,395 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,203,685 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,652,310,000 after buying an additional 571,700 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Medtronic by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,056,217 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,155,085,000 after purchasing an additional 574,055 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Medtronic by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 18,443,640 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,473,278,000 after purchasing an additional 372,168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Medtronic by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,445,284 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $1,233,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,333,600 shares during the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MDT. Citigroup raised shares of Medtronic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $92.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Medtronic from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Medtronic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.00.

Medtronic Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:MDT opened at $88.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $112.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.79. Medtronic plc has a fifty-two week low of $75.96 and a fifty-two week 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $83.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.23.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 21st. The medical technology company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $8.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.81 billion. Medtronic had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 14.07%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. This is an increase from Medtronic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio is 78.45%.

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.