GAMMA Investing LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT - Free Report) by 12,579.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,427,157 shares of the medical technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,415,901 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC owned about 0.11% of Medtronic worth $128,244,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Medtronic by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 124,203,387 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $9,921,367,000 after buying an additional 754,395 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,203,685 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $2,652,310,000 after purchasing an additional 571,700 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,056,217 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $2,155,085,000 after purchasing an additional 574,055 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 18,443,640 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $1,473,278,000 after purchasing an additional 372,168 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,445,284 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $1,233,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,333,600 shares during the period. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upgraded Medtronic from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $92.00 to $107.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Medtronic from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Medtronic from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Medtronic from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $97.00.

Medtronic Trading Up 0.1%

Medtronic stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $85.66. The company had a trading volume of 5,129,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,831,701. Medtronic plc has a 1-year low of $75.96 and a 1-year high of $96.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $84.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.16. The stock has a market cap of $109.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.81.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The medical technology company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $8.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.81 billion. Medtronic had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 14.07%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from Medtronic's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Medtronic's payout ratio is 78.45%.

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.