Medtronic Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:MDT)

Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDTGet Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 23,089 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 110% compared to the average volume of 11,013 put options.

Institutional Trading of Medtronic

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MDT. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Medtronic by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,731,367 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $5,509,155,000 after buying an additional 520,027 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 3.3% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,582,993 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $772,727,000 after purchasing an additional 275,870 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Medtronic by 436.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 7,343,385 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $661,125,000 after purchasing an additional 5,975,110 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Medtronic by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,120,554 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $560,494,000 after purchasing an additional 515,751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its position 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 valued at $575,460,000 after purchasing an additional 145,504 shares during the period. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Medtronic Stock Performance

Shares of MDT stock opened at $80.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.47, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.82. Medtronic has a one year low of $75.96 and a one year high of $92.68. The company’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 quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDTGet Free Report) last released its 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. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.79% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. Medtronic’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Medtronic will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. Medtronic’s payout ratio is 85.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MDT. Barclays upped their target price on Medtronic from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Medtronic from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Daiwa America raised shares of Medtronic to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Medtronic from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Medtronic from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned 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.com, Medtronic presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.00.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on MDT

Medtronic Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

Featured Articles

Receive News & Ratings for Medtronic Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Medtronic and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.