Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) Shares Up 1.1% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) shot up 1.1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $89.06 and last traded at $89.20. 1,174,189 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 6,103,681 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.23.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on MDT shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Medtronic in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Medtronic from $93.00 to $89.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Medtronic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $92.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Medtronic has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.07.

Medtronic Stock Down 1.5 %

The company’s 50-day moving average is $90.98 and its 200 day moving average is $88.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a market capitalization of $112.38 billion, a PE ratio of 26.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80.

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

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.11%.

Insider Activity

In other Medtronic 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,979 shares in the company, valued at $3,688,110. This represents a 23.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Medtronic

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 0.6% in 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 last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Medtronic by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,731,367 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $5,509,155,000 after acquiring an additional 520,027 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 571,700 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Medtronic by 2.2% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 18,443,640 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,473,278,000 after purchasing an additional 372,168 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.06% 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.