Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $5.09 Million Stock Position in Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its holdings in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,778 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 162 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company were worth $5,090,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 277.3% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,936,654 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $478,295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,423,353 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 141.6% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,345,873 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $314,544,000 after purchasing an additional 788,735 shares during the period. M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company in the 1st quarter worth $173,692,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 32.5% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 2,803,255 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $655,149,000 after purchasing an additional 688,296 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 8.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,412,163 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,031,167,000 after buying an additional 346,720 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BDX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $290.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $275.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.50.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Stock Up 1.3 %

BDX stock opened at $234.63 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $67.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.42. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a fifty-two week low of $218.75 and a fifty-two week high of $269.52. The business has a 50-day moving average of $235.42 and a 200-day moving average of $235.54.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.19. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a return on equity of 14.49% and a net margin of 7.13%. The firm had revenue of $4.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.96 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.95 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. 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.