SFE Investment Counsel Purchases Shares of 17,614 Becton, Dickinson and Company $BDX

SFE Investment Counsel bought a new stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 17,614 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $2,666,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 98.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,770 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 627,900 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $122,403,000 after purchasing an additional 26,671 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,126,471 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $218,614,000 after buying an additional 240,673 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 172,580 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $33,493,000 after acquiring an additional 65,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northside Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 18.3% in the second quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC now owns 61,324 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $9,280,000 after buying an additional 9,494 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $202.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $195.00 price target on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $161.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $163.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Becton, Dickinson and Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $185.67.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Trading Up 0.7%

Becton, Dickinson and Company stock opened at $183.16 on Friday. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a 52 week low of $127.59 and a 52 week high of $187.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.17, a P/E/G ratio of 12.93 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $157.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $161.70.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $4.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.89 billion. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 14.79%. The company’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. Becton, Dickinson and Company has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.620-12.720 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 12.67 EPS for the current year.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.05 per share. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s payout ratio is 126.51%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Polen, Jr. sold 4,152 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.00, for a total value of $768,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,380,155. This represents a 3.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Roland Goette sold 2,438 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.84, for a total transaction of $440,887.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,686,559.04. The trade was a 14.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 11,779 shares of company stock worth $1,974,669 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.