Sage Investment Counsel LLC Acquires New Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Sage Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,554 shares of the medical technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $444,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Medtronic during the third quarter valued at approximately $694,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its position in Medtronic by 19.2% during the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 87,000 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $7,833,000 after acquiring an additional 14,000 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its holdings in Medtronic by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 73,517 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,873,000 after purchasing an additional 18,057 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in Medtronic by 322.6% during the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 73,593 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $6,626,000 after purchasing an additional 56,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Medtronic by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 278,065 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $22,212,000 after purchasing an additional 16,786 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on MDT shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Medtronic from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group increased their price target on Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Medtronic in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Medtronic currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Medtronic news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 12,437 shares of Medtronic stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $1,119,330.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 40,979 shares in the company, valued at $3,688,110. The trade was a 23.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Stock Up 1.4 %

MDT opened at $92.00 on Friday. Medtronic plc has a fifty-two week low of $75.96 and a fifty-two week high of $93.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $87.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.42. The company has a market capitalization of $117.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.84.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The medical technology company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. Medtronic had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 14.07%. The firm had revenue of $8.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.33 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Medtronic plc will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.