State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Stake in Medtronic PLC $MDT

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D has reduced its holdings in Medtronic PLC by 9.0%, now owning 429,817 shares valued at approximately $38.62 million.
• Medtronic recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.62, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.58, with revenue of $8.93 billion for the quarter.
• The company has raised its quarterly dividend from $0.70 to $0.71 per share, representing a 3.1% yield and marking a $2.84 annualized dividend.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its holdings in Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT - Free Report) by 9.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 429,817 shares of the medical technology company's stock after selling 42,516 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Medtronic were worth $38,623,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Medtronic by 122.8% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,912,055 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $619,460,000 after acquiring an additional 3,809,450 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Medtronic in the first quarter valued at about $260,649,000. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Medtronic in the fourth quarter valued at about $174,329,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Medtronic during the 4th quarter valued at about $139,869,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Medtronic by 220.9% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,412,115 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $216,753,000 after buying an additional 1,660,357 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MDT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Medtronic from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. William Blair upgraded shares of Medtronic to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Medtronic from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Medtronic from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Medtronic from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.19.

Medtronic Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE MDT traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $92.74. The stock had a trading volume of 11,575,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,456,961. The business's 50 day moving average is $89.43 and its 200-day moving average is $87.97. The company has a market cap of $118.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.80. Medtronic PLC has a 52 week low of $79.29 and a 52 week high of $96.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 26th. Medtronic's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.