Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA Reduces Stake in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA reduced its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,061 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 233 shares during the quarter. Medtronic comprises approximately 1.7% of Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $3,718,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MDT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Medtronic by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 124,203,387 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $9,921,367,000 after buying an additional 754,395 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,203,685 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,652,310,000 after purchasing an additional 571,700 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Medtronic by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,056,217 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,155,085,000 after purchasing an additional 574,055 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Medtronic by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 18,443,640 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,473,278,000 after buying an additional 372,168 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Medtronic by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,445,284 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,233,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,333,600 shares during the period. 82.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a report on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup raised shares of Medtronic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Medtronic from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Medtronic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.00.

Medtronic Stock Up 0.1%

MDT stock opened at $88.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50-day moving average of $83.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.23. 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 52-week low of $75.96 and a 52-week high of $96.25.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The medical technology company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $8.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.81 billion. Medtronic had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 14.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost 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 3.23%. Medtronic’s payout ratio is presently 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.