Bessemer Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Bessemer Group Inc. decreased its position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 665,608 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 13,561 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $53,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Medtronic during the 3rd quarter valued at about $225,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Medtronic during the third quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Medtronic by 6.0% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 6,224 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $535,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Medtronic by 22.3% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,322 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after buying an additional 2,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilson & Boucher Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Medtronic during the third quarter worth $199,000. Institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MDT. Truist Financial cut their price target on Medtronic from $93.00 to $89.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Medtronic from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup raised shares of Medtronic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $92.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 12,437 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $1,119,330.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,688,110. This represents a 23.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MDT opened at $85.42 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.74. The stock has a market cap of $109.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Medtronic plc has a 12 month low of $75.96 and a 12 month high of $96.25.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The medical technology company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 14.07%. As a group, analysts predict that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.11%.

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.