Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL reduced its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 36,569 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 2,052 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company were worth $8,546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BDX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,123,450 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $6,369,681,000 after acquiring an additional 195,931 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 1.8% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,905,114 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,146,374,000 after purchasing an additional 87,230 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 8.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,412,163 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,031,167,000 after purchasing an additional 346,720 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,539,663 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $628,440,000 after purchasing an additional 105,821 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Longview Partners Guernsey LTD grew its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD now owns 2,321,435 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $574,439,000 after buying an additional 170,500 shares during the period. 86.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BDX. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $275.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $290.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Becton, Dickinson and Company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $274.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.50.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BDX opened at $233.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $235.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $235.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $67.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.42. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a 1-year low of $218.75 and a 1-year high of $269.52.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.19. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a net margin of 7.13% and a return on equity of 14.49%. The firm had revenue of $4.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 13.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.95 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s payout ratio is currently 83.70%.

About Becton, Dickinson and Company

Becton, Dickinson and Company develops, manufactures, and sells medical supplies, devices, laboratory equipment, and diagnostic products for healthcare institutions, physicians, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, pharmaceutical industry, and the general public worldwide. The company operates in three segments: BD Medical, BD Life Sciences, and BD Interventional.