First City Capital Management Inc. Sells 125 Shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT)

First City Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,998 shares of the medical technology company’s stock after selling 125 shares during the period. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Medtronic were worth $319,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MDT. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Medtronic in the fourth quarter worth approximately $55,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Medtronic by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,788 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. Syntax Research Inc. increased its stake in shares of Medtronic by 593.6% in the 3rd quarter. Syntax Research Inc. now owns 6,319 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $569,000 after acquiring an additional 5,408 shares in the last quarter. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Medtronic during the 3rd quarter valued at $227,000. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Medtronic during the third quarter valued at about $694,000. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Medtronic Stock Performance

Shares of Medtronic stock traded up $0.46 during trading on Friday, hitting $80.68. 1,824,971 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,666,271. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.85. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $103.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.67, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.83. Medtronic plc has a 1 year low of $75.96 and a 1 year high of $92.68.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The medical technology company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.01. The firm 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%. The company’s 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, analysts forecast that Medtronic plc will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. Medtronic’s payout ratio is 85.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MDT. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Medtronic from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Medtronic from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.00.

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.