UPDATE 2-Medtronic names Michael Coyle to head heart unit

* Coyle, a veteran of St. Jude, to head heart unit

* Coyle will report directly to CEO Bill Hawkins (Adds analyst comment, stock price)

CHICAGO Dec 2 (Reuters) - Medtronic Inc (MDT.N) said on Wednesday it named Michael Coyle as executive vice president and group president of its cardiology business.

Coyle -- who most recently served as a consultant to private equity, venture capital and medical device businesses after serving as president of St. Jude Medical's (STJ.N) Cardiac Rhythm Management business from 2001 to 2007 -- will be a member of the Executive Committee and report directly to Medtronic Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Hawkins.

Reporting to Coyle will be Pat Mackin, president of Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management, Scott Ward, president of Cardiovascular, and Brian Webster, president of Physio-Control.

"We like Coyle and we like the hire for Medtronic, recognizing that investors may have hoped for someone more outside the business and outside the Minneapolis device community, someone who could shake things up internally at Medtronic," JP Morgan Michael Weinstein wrote in a research note.

In August, Medtronic, the world's largest stand-alone maker of medical devices, said it would consolidate its businesses into two operating units, combining its heart related businesses into one unit and the remaining businesses -- Neuromodulation, Diabetes, Biologics, Spinal and Surgical Technologies -- into the other.

Medtronic's shares were up 61 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $43.30 in morning New York Stock Exchange trading. (Reporting by Debra Sherman; Editing by Maureen Bavdek) ((debra.sherman@thomsonreuters.com; + 312 408 8134; Reuters Messaging: debra.sherman.reuters.com@reuters.net))