St. Clair Advisors LLC Buys New Position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

St. Clair Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 11,162 shares of the medical technology company's stock, valued at approximately $892,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MDT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Medtronic in the 4th quarter valued at $1,163,580,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Medtronic in the 4th quarter valued at $852,732,000. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. purchased a new position in Medtronic in the 4th quarter valued at $377,169,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Medtronic by 2,043.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,598,150 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $207,540,000 after buying an additional 2,476,935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Medtronic by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,445,284 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $1,233,769,000 after buying an additional 2,333,600 shares during the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $94.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Medtronic from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Medtronic from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $92.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Medtronic from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $96.07.

Medtronic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MDT traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $80.70. 10,565,983 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,819,462. The stock has a market cap of $103.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.53, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Medtronic plc has a twelve month low of $75.96 and a twelve month high of $96.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $85.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.44.

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

Medtronic Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors 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 of this dividend is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. Medtronic's payout ratio is presently 85.11%.

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.