Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) Shares Sold by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council cut its stake in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 250,757 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 28,345 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $20,030,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. MONECO Advisors LLC increased its stake 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. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,207 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 70,597 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $5,639,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Medtronic during the 4th quarter valued at about $733,000. Finally, Cohen Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Medtronic by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,102 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the period. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Medtronic Trading Up 2.3 %

MDT opened at $89.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $115.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.84. Medtronic plc has a 52 week low of $75.96 and a 52 week high of $93.08. The business’s 50 day moving average is $86.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The medical technology company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.33 billion. Medtronic had a return on equity of 14.07% and a net margin of 12.83%. On average, research analysts predict that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Medtronic

In other Medtronic news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of Medtronic stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total value of $792,038.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,273,330.28. This trade represents a 19.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Medtronic from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays raised their target price on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Medtronic in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.00.

Medtronic 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.