Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $1.57 Billion Stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) by 10.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,843,856 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 667,957 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 2.38% of Becton, Dickinson and Company worth $1,567,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BDX. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company in the 1st quarter valued at $252,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 7,130 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after buying an additional 1,596 shares during the period. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. increased its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 3,371 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $772,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Prudent Man Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC now owns 5,467 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,252,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Finally, Marks Group Wealth Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 18.8% in the 1st quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 43,129 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $9,879,000 after buying an additional 6,823 shares during the period. 86.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BDX has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $280.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup cut Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $217.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut Becton, Dickinson and Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut Becton, Dickinson and Company from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Becton, Dickinson and Company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $219.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David Shan sold 1,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.19, for a total value of $199,607.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 4,575 shares in the company, valued at $783,194.25. The trade was a 20.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Stock Performance

BDX stock opened at $175.87 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $172.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $205.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $50.41 billion, a PE ratio of 33.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.25. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a 1-year low of $163.33 and a 1-year high of $251.99.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.35 billion. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a return on equity of 15.99% and a net margin of 7.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 14.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.39%.

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.