Franklin Resources Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 16,629,021 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 3,065,673 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $1,496,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Medtronic in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Medtronic during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Medtronic during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP purchased a new position in Medtronic in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Chelsea Counsel Co. acquired a new stake in Medtronic in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MDT shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Medtronic from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Medtronic from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded Medtronic to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Medtronic has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.27.

Medtronic Stock Performance

Medtronic stock opened at $82.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Medtronic plc has a 12 month low of $75.96 and a 12 month high of $92.68. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $87.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.99. The company has a market cap of $106.08 billion, a PE ratio of 25.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.82.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. Medtronic had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 13.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. Research analysts expect that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. Medtronic’s payout ratio is 85.63%.

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.