Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Medtronic (NYSE:MDT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jun 22nd, 2023

Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT – Get Rating) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 57,833 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 426% compared to the average volume of 10,996 call options.

Medtronic Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE MDT opened at $88.32 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $117.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.81. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $86.72 and its 200-day moving average is $82.72. Medtronic has a one year low of $75.76 and a one year high of $95.60.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 25th. The medical technology company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $8.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.54% and a net margin of 12.03%. Medtronic’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Medtronic will post 5.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medtronic Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 14th. Investors of record on Friday, June 23rd will be given a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 22nd. This is a positive change from Medtronic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Medtronic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 96.45%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Medtronic

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Medtronic by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,113 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 1,896 shares in the last quarter. AXS Investments LLC grew its stake in Medtronic by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. AXS Investments LLC now owns 19,936 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $1,549,000 after purchasing an additional 3,056 shares in the last quarter. Gofen & Glossberg LLC IL grew its stake in Medtronic by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Gofen & Glossberg LLC IL now owns 45,004 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $3,498,000 after purchasing an additional 8,205 shares in the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems grew its stake in Medtronic by 0.5% in the third quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 239,660 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $19,352,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Medtronic by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,673 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $519,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on MDT. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Medtronic from $100.00 to $99.00 in a report on Friday, May 26th. UBS Group cut Medtronic from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $127.00 to $79.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Medtronic from $80.00 to $87.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Medtronic from $90.00 to $92.00 in a report on Friday, May 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Medtronic from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.53.

About Medtronic

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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.