Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 6,419 Shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company $BDX

Welch & Forbes LLC lessened its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) by 13.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,191 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 6,419 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company were worth $7,994,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BDX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,678,939 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $7,118,282,000 after buying an additional 4,223,149 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 3.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,872,395 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,596,496,000 after purchasing an additional 459,219 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 11,646,000 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,260,139,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651,592 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,486,694 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,841,083,000 after buying an additional 336,110 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,885,361 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,331,165,000 after buying an additional 53,884 shares during the period. 86.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on BDX. Evercore lifted their price target on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $180.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $190.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $156.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their target price on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $202.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Becton, Dickinson and Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $183.64.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Stock Performance

BDX stock opened at $147.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.54 billion, a PE ratio of 37.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 0.22. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a 12-month low of $127.59 and a 12-month high of $187.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $151.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.02.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.67 billion. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 5.33%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.35 EPS. Becton, Dickinson and Company has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.520-12.720 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 12.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s dividend payout ratio is 106.33%.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Profile

Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX) is a global medical technology company that develops, manufactures and sells a broad range of medical devices, instrument systems and reagents. BD’s products are used by healthcare institutions, clinical laboratories, life science researchers and the pharmaceutical industry to enable safe, effective delivery of care, specimen collection and diagnostic testing. The company’s operations span multiple business areas focused on medical devices, life sciences research tools and interventional technologies.

BD’s product portfolio includes single-use medical devices such as syringes, needles, needlesafety and injection systems, infusion therapy and medication management solutions, as well as vascular access, urology and oncology devices acquired through its interventional business.