Medtronic plc (MDT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.70 on April 11th

Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 6th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.70 per share by the medical technology company on Friday, April 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th.

Medtronic has raised its dividend by an average of 4.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 48 years. Medtronic has a payout ratio of 44.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Medtronic to earn $5.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.0%.

Medtronic Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Medtronic stock opened at $94.58 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.78. The company has a market cap of $121.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80. Medtronic has a fifty-two week low of $75.96 and a fifty-two week high of $95.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The medical technology company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.33 billion. Medtronic had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 14.07%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Medtronic will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Medtronic

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Medtronic stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 1,368.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,989 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,265 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $3,194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MDT has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup raised shares of Medtronic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $92.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Medtronic has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.07.

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.