Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Buys 8,907 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 561,578 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,907 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $50,559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MDT. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Medtronic in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Medtronic during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Medtronic in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP bought a new stake in Medtronic in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Gleason Group Inc. acquired a new position in Medtronic during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Medtronic Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Medtronic stock opened at $84.14 on Friday. Medtronic plc has a 52-week low of $75.96 and a 52-week high of $92.68. The stock has a market cap of $107.89 billion, a PE ratio of 25.73, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $88.35 and a 200-day moving average of $85.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.01. Medtronic had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 13.79%. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio is 85.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Medtronic from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. 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. Citigroup upped their target price on Medtronic from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Medtronic from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.27.

Medtronic Company Profile

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.