Medtronic Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:MDT)

Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors bought 19,680 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 76% compared to the typical daily volume of 11,190 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Medtronic

In other Medtronic news, EVP Brett A. Wall sold 9,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total value of $792,038.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,273,330.28. This represents a 19.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Medtronic

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ascent Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Medtronic during the third quarter valued at approximately $476,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in Medtronic by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 48,248 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $4,344,000 after buying an additional 1,248 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Medtronic by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,145 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,444,000 after buying an additional 6,917 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Medtronic during the third quarter worth $225,000. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Medtronic by 1.6% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 561,578 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $50,559,000 after acquiring an additional 8,907 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MDT shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Medtronic from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Medtronic in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup raised Medtronic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $92.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group upped their target price on Medtronic from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on Medtronic from $93.00 to $89.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Medtronic currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.07.

Medtronic Stock Down 5.7 %

MDT opened at $82.86 on Friday. Medtronic has a twelve month low of $75.96 and a twelve month high of $96.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $90.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.94. The firm has a market cap of $106.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The medical technology company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.33 billion. Medtronic had a return on equity of 14.07% and a net margin of 12.83%. Research analysts forecast that Medtronic will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Medtronic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Medtronic’s payout ratio is 85.11%.

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.