Somerville Kurt F Sells 45,139 Shares of Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT)

Somerville Kurt F trimmed its stake in shares of Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT - Free Report) by 78.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,411 shares of the medical technology company's stock after selling 45,139 shares during the quarter. Somerville Kurt F's holdings in Medtronic were worth $1,115,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MDT. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Medtronic by 1,368.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 39,989 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $3,194,000 after buying an additional 37,265 shares during the period. Oxford Asset Management LLP increased its position in shares of Medtronic by 70.1% during the fourth quarter. Oxford Asset Management LLP now owns 7,442 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $594,000 after buying an additional 3,068 shares during the period. New Vernon Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Medtronic by 304.9% during the fourth quarter. New Vernon Investment Management LLC now owns 29,613 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $2,425,000 after buying an additional 22,300 shares during the period. Insight Inv LLC increased its position in shares of Medtronic by 84.2% during the first quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 27,456 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $2,467,000 after buying an additional 12,550 shares during the period. Finally, Argent Trust Co increased its position in shares of Medtronic by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 56,020 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $4,475,000 after buying an additional 6,721 shares during the period. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MDT. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Medtronic from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. William Blair upgraded shares of Medtronic to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Medtronic to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.19.

Medtronic Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of MDT stock traded up $0.59 on Friday, hitting $92.91. The stock had a trading volume of 5,249,771 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,759,313. The business has a 50 day moving average of $86.91 and a 200 day moving average of $87.44. The stock has a market cap of $119.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.42. Medtronic PLC has a 12-month low of $78.32 and a 12-month high of $96.25.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 21st. The medical technology company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Medtronic had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 14.54%. The business had revenue of $8.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Medtronic PLC will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th were paid a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from Medtronic's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Medtronic's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.