Willis Investment Counsel Sells 1,149 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Willis Investment Counsel lowered its holdings in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 0.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 352,538 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 1,149 shares during the quarter. Medtronic comprises 2.1% of Willis Investment Counsel’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $31,679,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 6,408 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $512,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC now owns 5,043 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $403,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Vestor Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 51,375 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $4,104,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP now owns 5,099 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $458,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its stake in Medtronic by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 2,989 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MDT. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Medtronic from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Medtronic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Citigroup raised shares of Medtronic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.00.

Medtronic Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:MDT opened at $88.47 on Friday. Medtronic plc has a fifty-two week low of $75.96 and a fifty-two week high of $96.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.25.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The medical technology company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Medtronic had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 14.07%. The business had revenue of $8.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.81 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 27th. This is a boost from Medtronic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.