Medtronic Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:MDT)

Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 16,425 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 58% compared to the typical volume of 10,385 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Medtronic

In other Medtronic news, CEO Geoffrey Martha sold 19,113 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.77, for a total value of $1,601,096.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,008,261.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Medtronic

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boyar Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Medtronic by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,655 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $383,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 8.0% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,680 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Abbrea Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Medtronic by 2.5% during the first quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC now owns 5,077 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $446,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Waterway Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Medtronic by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,759 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Finally, Angeles Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Medtronic by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,627 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MDT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Medtronic from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $92.00 price target on shares of Medtronic in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Medtronic from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Medtronic from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Medtronic from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.92.

Medtronic Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of MDT stock traded up $1.44 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $90.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,288,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,261,970. The company has a market cap of $115.92 billion, a PE ratio of 32.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.13. Medtronic has a 52 week low of $68.84 and a 52 week high of $91.48.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The medical technology company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Medtronic had a net margin of 12.06% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The company had revenue of $7.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Medtronic will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. Medtronic’s payout ratio is 101.82%.

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.