These Congress Members Were Buying Falling Medtronic Stock

Medtronic (MDT:US), a major producer of medical devices, saw its shares trade near 3-year lows after the company delivered weak results for its second quarter.

Medtronic reported weaker-than-expected revenues for the second quarter, including an overall -3.3% drop in sales year-over-year. Moreover, the medical device maker slashed its full-year earnings per share forecast to reflect the difficult macroeconomic environment and headwinds caused by higher dollar. 

“Slower than predicted procedure and supply recovery drove revenue below our expectations this quarter,” CEO Geoffrey Martha said in a press release. As a result, the company’s stock is now approaching Covid-19 lows.

Looking at the Capitol Trades data, we see that several Congress members were buying Medtronic shares earlier this year. In one case, Rep. Kathy Manning was buying MDT stock on October 12 - when shares closed at $80.31 - and on July 27 - closing price of $93.22.

Similarly, Rep. Ro Khanna of California has been an active trader of Medtronic shares with more than 40 reported trades this year only. Most recently, he sold a significant amount of shares while they were still trading at above $80 apiece. At the same time, Mr. Khanna was accumulating MDT throughout the year, including a $15,000 - $50,000 investment in July when shares traded around the $90 mark.

Another Congress member who was investing in Medtronic is Clifford Franklin from Florida. Mr. Franklin was buying shares on September 13, when MDT stock closed at $90.32. He also bought $15,000 - $50,000 worth of Medtronic shares on March 15 with the stock closing at $105.40 on that day.

Finally, Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger reported on June 28 that she invested in Medtronic via four transactions, all worth between $1,000 to $15,000. She was also buying when shares were trading around the $90.00 handle.

As of now, Medtronic stock is trading at about 25% down year-to-date.