Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) Upgraded at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $90.00 target price on the medical technology company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $76.00.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on MDT. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Medtronic from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Medtronic from a buy rating to a hold rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and set a $92.00 target price on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $91.30.

Medtronic Stock Performance

MDT opened at $84.60 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $80.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.30. Medtronic has a 1-year low of $68.84 and a 1-year high of $89.18. The company has a market cap of $108.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.76, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.82.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The medical technology company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $8.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. Medtronic had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 13.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.57 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Medtronic will post 5.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.82%.

Insider Activity at Medtronic

In related news, CEO Geoffrey Martha sold 19,113 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.77, for a total value of $1,601,096.01. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,008,261.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Medtronic

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MDT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Medtronic in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,229,726,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Medtronic by 54.5% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,409,680 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $775,169,000 after acquiring an additional 3,320,800 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Medtronic during the first quarter worth approximately $259,160,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Medtronic by 7.1% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,884,412 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $2,691,577,000 after acquiring an additional 2,044,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Medtronic by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,500,562 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $617,896,000 after acquiring an additional 1,769,985 shares in the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.