Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) Shares Sold by Trust Co. of Vermont

Trust Co. of Vermont lessened its position in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT - Free Report) by 18.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,929 shares of the medical technology company's stock after selling 12,020 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont's holdings in Medtronic were worth $4,148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MDT. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Medtronic during the second quarter valued at $239,000. Wealth Alliance boosted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 5,353 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 0.4% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 129,556 shares of the medical technology company's stock worth $10,433,000 after buying an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Medtronic by 30.3% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,161,329 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $91,809,000 after buying an additional 270,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCG Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 13.1% during the second quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,374 shares of the medical technology company's stock valued at $1,840,000 after buying an additional 2,706 shares during the period. 82.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MDT. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Medtronic from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Evercore ISI increased 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. Citigroup lifted their price target on Medtronic from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $95.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Medtronic

In related news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total value of $792,038.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Medtronic Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Medtronic stock traded up $1.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $88.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,577,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,401,241. 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 company has a market capitalization of $113.13 billion, a PE ratio of 26.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a fifty day moving average of $83.64 and a 200 day moving average of $85.10. Medtronic plc has a 1-year low of $75.96 and a 1-year high of $92.68.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.27 billion. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.79% and a net margin of 13.00%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Medtronic's dividend payout ratio is currently 85.63%.

Medtronic Company 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.