Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) Trading Up 0.1% - Should You Buy?

Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 0.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $80.51 and last traded at $80.11. 1,653,246 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 6,229,970 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.03.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MDT shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Medtronic from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Medtronic in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Medtronic from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded shares of Medtronic to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned 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, Medtronic presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $95.00.

Medtronic Trading Down 0.0 %

The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $87.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.82.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during 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 revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Medtronic's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.63%.

Institutional Trading of Medtronic

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GYL Financial Synergies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 26.4% during the second quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 7,557 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $595,000 after purchasing an additional 1,579 shares in the last quarter. &PARTNERS grew its holdings in Medtronic by 367.1% during the 2nd quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 50,651 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $3,990,000 after acquiring an additional 39,808 shares during the last quarter. JB Capital LLC increased its position in Medtronic by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 105,413 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $8,297,000 after acquiring an additional 5,908 shares during the period. Slagle Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 6.7% during the second quarter. Slagle Financial LLC now owns 27,865 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $2,193,000 after purchasing an additional 1,761 shares during the period. Finally, Bowman & Co S.C. grew its stake in shares of Medtronic by 10.0% in the second quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. now owns 15,956 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.06% of the company's stock.

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.