Ritholtz Wealth Management Buys 40,243 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 282.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54,485 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,243 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $4,352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Beech Hill Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc. now owns 48,306 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $3,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,519 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Medtronic in the fourth quarter worth $280,000. StrongBox Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Medtronic by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. StrongBox Wealth LLC now owns 16,701 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,334,000 after buying an additional 576 shares during the period. Steph & Co. boosted its stake in Medtronic by 1,736.2% during the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 1,065 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Finally, Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Medtronic by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,361 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $748,000 after buying an additional 385 shares during the period. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Medtronic Stock Up 2.1 %

MDT opened at $87.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $111.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.83. Medtronic plc has a 12 month low of $75.96 and a 12 month high of $92.68. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $83.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.01.

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

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Medtronic’s payout ratio is presently 85.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Medtronic from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Medtronic from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research report on Monday, November 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Medtronic currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Medtronic news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of Medtronic stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total transaction of $792,038.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,273,330.28. The trade was a 19.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.