Davis Capital Management Increases Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Davis Capital Management lifted its position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 36.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,894 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,589 shares during the quarter. Davis Capital Management’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MDT. State Street Corp raised its position in Medtronic by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,731,367 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,509,155,000 after acquiring an additional 520,027 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in Medtronic by 3.3% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,582,993 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $772,727,000 after acquiring an additional 275,870 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Medtronic by 436.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 7,343,385 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $661,125,000 after acquiring an additional 5,975,110 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Medtronic by 2.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,391,865 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $575,460,000 after acquiring an additional 145,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Medtronic by 11.5% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,893,720 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $530,612,000 after acquiring an additional 609,391 shares in the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Medtronic from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Medtronic from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Medtronic from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Medtronic has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.00.

Medtronic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MDT opened at $88.35 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $83.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Medtronic plc has a 1-year low of $75.96 and a 1-year high of $92.68. The company has a market cap of $113.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.83.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.27 billion. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.79% and a net margin of 13.00%. Medtronic’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. Analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Medtronic

In other news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total transaction of $792,038.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,273,330.28. This represents a 19.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.