USA Financial Formulas Acquires Shares of 847 Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX)

USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 847 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $192,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company during the second quarter valued at about $2,767,000. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 4.2% during the second quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 1,771 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $414,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Argent Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 11.8% during the second quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 9,045 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,114,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 2.3% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 632,659 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $147,936,000 after buying an additional 14,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company during the second quarter worth about $1,978,000. 86.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BDX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $286.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup upgraded shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $275.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.50.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BDX opened at $236.23 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $226.77 and a 200 day moving average of $232.51. The stock has a market cap of $68.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.39. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a 12 month low of $218.75 and a 12 month high of $248.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.04. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 14.89%. The business had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.42 earnings per share. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 14.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This is a positive change from Becton, Dickinson and Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s payout ratio is presently 70.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Becton, Dickinson and Company

In other news, EVP Michael David Garrison sold 2,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.33, for a total value of $633,810.54. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,371,469.53. The trade was a 31.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Roland Goette sold 4,483 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.01, for a total transaction of $990,787.83. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 24,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,380,488.45. The trade was a 15.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,747 shares of company stock worth $1,949,520 over the last three months. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.