Olstein Capital Management L.P. Buys 7,000 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 94,000 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,000 shares during the quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $7,509,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MDT. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Medtronic by 29.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 654,839 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $51,542,000 after acquiring an additional 148,586 shares in the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC acquired a new position in shares of Medtronic in the second quarter valued at $522,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in Medtronic in the second quarter worth $4,745,000. Creative Planning boosted its stake in Medtronic by 6.6% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 247,061 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $19,446,000 after buying an additional 15,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Medtronic in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,484,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MDT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Medtronic from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a report on Monday, November 18th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Medtronic from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 40,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,273,330.28. This represents a 19.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Medtronic Stock Performance

Medtronic stock opened at $90.07 on Friday. Medtronic plc has a 12-month low of $75.96 and a 12-month high of $92.68. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. 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.