TCW Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

TCW Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 100,118 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after buying an additional 445 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $7,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Medtronic during the third quarter valued at approximately $694,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Medtronic by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 87,000 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $7,833,000 after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 73,517 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,873,000 after purchasing an additional 18,057 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 322.6% in the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 73,593 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $6,626,000 after purchasing an additional 56,178 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Medtronic by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 278,065 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $22,212,000 after buying an additional 16,786 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MDT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.00.

Medtronic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MDT opened at $89.95 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.84. Medtronic plc has a 52 week low of $75.96 and a 52 week high of $93.08. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

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

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.11%.

Insider Activity

In other Medtronic news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of Medtronic stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total transaction of $792,038.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,273,330.28. The trade was a 19.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.20% 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.