19,277 Shares in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) Purchased by Empirical Asset Management LLC

Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 19,277 shares of the medical technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,540,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Medtronic during the 2nd quarter valued at $239,000. Wealth Alliance raised its stake in Medtronic by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 5,353 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in Medtronic by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 129,556 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $10,433,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Medtronic by 30.3% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,161,329 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $91,809,000 after purchasing an additional 270,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCG Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Medtronic by 13.1% during the second quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,374 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 2,706 shares during the period. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays increased their target price on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Medtronic from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $98.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a report on Monday, November 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.00.

Medtronic Price Performance

MDT stock opened at $88.23 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market cap of $113.13 billion, a PE ratio of 26.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.83. Medtronic plc has a one year low of $75.96 and a one year high of $92.68.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Medtronic

In other Medtronic news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total value of $792,038.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,273,330.28. The trade was a 19.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.