Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,631 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 885 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $867,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its position in Medtronic by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 87,000 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $7,833,000 after acquiring an additional 14,000 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Medtronic in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,643,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Medtronic by 130.3% during the 1st quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 16,829 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after buying an additional 9,523 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Medtronic by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 261,325 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $21,642,000 after buying an additional 31,195 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Medtronic by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 368,682 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $29,019,000 after acquiring an additional 21,995 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MDT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Medtronic from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Medtronic from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised Medtronic from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Medtronic from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, August 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.36.

Medtronic Price Performance

NYSE MDT opened at $87.72 on Monday. Medtronic plc has a 12-month low of $69.32 and a 12-month high of $92.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.48. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.84.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The medical technology company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.90 billion. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 12.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. Analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. Medtronic’s payout ratio is currently 94.59%.

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.