Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) Shares Sold by Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT - Free Report) by 35.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 146,800 shares of the medical technology company's stock after selling 82,000 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.'s holdings in Medtronic were worth $11,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. MONECO Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Medtronic by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 6,408 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its position in shares of Medtronic by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 36,303 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $2,900,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 19,677 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $1,572,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Faithward Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Medtronic by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC now owns 5,043 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Finally, Vestor Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 51,375 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $4,104,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MDT. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Medtronic from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Medtronic from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. 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 research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on Medtronic from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $96.07.

Medtronic Stock Performance

NYSE MDT traded up $0.46 on Friday, reaching $82.87. 3,409,089 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,805,784. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $84.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.24. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $106.28 billion, a PE ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.81. Medtronic plc has a one year low of $75.96 and a one year high of $96.25.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 21st. The medical technology company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Medtronic had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 14.07%. The business had revenue of $8.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.81 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The business's revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Medtronic's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Medtronic's payout ratio is presently 78.45%.

Medtronic 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.