Cutler Investment Counsel LLC Decreases Position in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

Cutler Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its holdings in Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 1.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 127,032 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 1,675 shares during the quarter. Medtronic makes up 1.5% of Cutler Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $11,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Medtronic by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,884,412 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,691,577,000 after buying an additional 2,044,109 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Medtronic by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,307,123 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $653,854,000 after buying an additional 637,931 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Medtronic by 7.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,120,554 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $560,494,000 after acquiring an additional 515,751 shares in the last quarter. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD boosted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD now owns 6,635,054 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $578,245,000 after buying an additional 147,737 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Medtronic by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,391,865 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $575,460,000 after acquiring an additional 145,504 shares in the last quarter. 82.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MDT. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Medtronic from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Medtronic from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Medtronic from $90.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Medtronic from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Medtronic from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Medtronic has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.80.

Medtronic Stock Performance

MDT stock traded up $1.53 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $87.53. 7,952,317 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,225,400. Medtronic plc has a twelve month low of $74.20 and a twelve month high of $92.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The medical technology company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.90 billion. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 12.06%. Medtronic’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Medtronic plc will post 5.44 earnings per share for the current year.

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.