Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) Shares Bought by Sentry LLC

Sentry LLC grew its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 11.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,604 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,358 shares during the period. Sentry LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $1,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 39,718 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $3,173,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 1,368.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 39,989 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $3,194,000 after acquiring an additional 37,265 shares in the last quarter. Oxford Asset Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 70.1% during the fourth quarter. Oxford Asset Management LLP now owns 7,442 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $594,000 after acquiring an additional 3,068 shares in the last quarter. New Vernon Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 304.9% during the fourth quarter. New Vernon Investment Management LLC now owns 29,613 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,425,000 after acquiring an additional 22,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor OS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 152.0% during the fourth quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 11,800 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $943,000 after acquiring an additional 7,118 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MDT. Wall Street Zen lowered Medtronic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Mizuho cut their target price on Medtronic from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Medtronic from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Citigroup upgraded Medtronic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $92.00 to $107.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Medtronic has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.00.

Medtronic Stock Performance

MDT stock opened at $87.19 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.39. 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 $111.83 billion, a PE ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.79.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The medical technology company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $8.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This is a positive change from Medtronic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Medtronic’s payout ratio is 78.45%.

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.