Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Cuts Stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company $BDX

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC cut its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,343 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 446 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company were worth $576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company during the 1st quarter worth $689,833,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 4.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,002,802 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $6,414,322,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259,750 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company during the first quarter valued at about $211,097,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company during the second quarter worth about $155,080,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,843,856 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,567,654,000 after purchasing an additional 667,957 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BDX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Becton, Dickinson and Company in a report on Thursday, September 25th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $211.00 target price for the company. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $220.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, September 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $196.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $172.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Becton, Dickinson and Company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $205.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Michael David Garrison sold 1,185 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.29, for a total transaction of $213,643.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 4,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $881,077.23. This represents a 19.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Claire Fraser sold 917 shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.50, for a total transaction of $171,937.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 22,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,167,375. This trade represents a 3.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,023 shares of company stock worth $562,036. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Stock Performance

Becton, Dickinson and Company stock opened at $191.94 on Tuesday. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a 12-month low of $163.33 and a 12-month high of $251.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $55.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $189.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $186.79.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.28. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a net margin of 7.51% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The company had revenue of $5.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Becton, Dickinson and Company has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.300-14.450 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 14.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s payout ratio is currently 74.82%.

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.