Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Sells 37,369 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 51.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,859 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 37,369 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $2,785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Medtronic during the third quarter valued at about $694,000. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its position in shares of Medtronic by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 73,517 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,873,000 after buying an additional 18,057 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in shares of Medtronic by 322.6% during the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 73,593 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $6,626,000 after buying an additional 56,178 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Medtronic by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 94,000 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $7,509,000 after purchasing an additional 7,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Medtronic by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 278,065 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $22,212,000 after purchasing an additional 16,786 shares during the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 12,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,119,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 40,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,688,110. This trade represents a 23.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MDT. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Medtronic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target 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 given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Medtronic presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.07.

Medtronic Stock Performance

NYSE:MDT opened at $93.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $119.51 billion, a PE ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80. Medtronic plc has a fifty-two week low of $75.96 and a fifty-two week high of $96.25. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $89.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.96.

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

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Medtronic’s payout ratio is 85.11%.

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.