Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) Shares Sold by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lessened its holdings in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 25,277 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 1,893 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $2,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Medtronic during the fourth quarter valued at $941,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 8,340.3% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,038,579 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $85,558,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026,274 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 69.3% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 40,476 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $3,172,000 after acquiring an additional 16,574 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in Medtronic by 109,325.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 91,917 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $7,572,000 after buying an additional 91,833 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Medtronic during the fourth quarter worth about $6,623,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Trading Up 0.3 %

MDT stock traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $81.16. 1,051,327 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,178,815. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $83.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.30. The company has a market cap of $107.77 billion, a PE ratio of 25.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.78. Medtronic plc has a one year low of $68.84 and a one year high of $92.02.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The medical technology company reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $8.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.71% and a net margin of 13.00%. Medtronic’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Medtronic plc will post 5.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 22nd were paid a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 21st. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 87.90%.

Insider Activity at Medtronic

In related news, EVP Michael Marinaro sold 854 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.14, for a total value of $71,001.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,925 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,684.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Michael Marinaro sold 854 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.14, for a total value of $71,001.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,925 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,684.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sean Salmon sold 30,695 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.13, for a total value of $2,613,065.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 48,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,110,842.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MDT. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Medtronic from $89.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Medtronic from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho raised their target price on Medtronic from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $92.00 target price on shares of Medtronic in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Medtronic presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.91.

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.