Cullen Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Cullen Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,557,559 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 178,010 shares during the period. Medtronic accounts for 2.3% of Cullen Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Cullen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $204,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Medtronic during the third quarter worth about $694,000. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC raised its stake in shares of Medtronic by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 73,517 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $5,873,000 after buying an additional 18,057 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 322.6% in the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 73,593 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $6,626,000 after buying an additional 56,178 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 94,000 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $7,509,000 after buying an additional 7,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Medtronic by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 278,065 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $22,212,000 after acquiring an additional 16,786 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Stock Down 5.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MDT opened at $82.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $106.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.94. Medtronic plc has a 52-week low of $75.96 and a 52-week high of $96.25. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The medical technology company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 14.07%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. Medtronic’s payout ratio is currently 85.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on MDT. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Medtronic from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Medtronic from $93.00 to $89.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Medtronic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $92.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Medtronic in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,273,330.28. This represents a 19.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate 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.