C.R. Bard Inc. (NYSE:BCR) – Equities researchers at Jefferies Group raised their FY2016 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of C.R. Bard in a research report issued on Wednesday. Jefferies Group analyst R. Denhoy now expects that the brokerage will post earnings of $10.15 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $10.10. Jefferies Group has a “Hold” rating and a $237.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Group also issued estimates for C.R. Bard’s Q4 2016 earnings at $2.73 EPS, Q2 2017 earnings at $2.81 EPS, Q3 2017 earnings at $2.86 EPS, Q4 2017 earnings at $3.10 EPS and FY2017 earnings at $11.30 EPS.
Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America Corp. downgraded shares of C.R. Bard from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 8th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of C.R. Bard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 12th. Barclays PLC boosted their target price on shares of C.R. Bard from $212.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 24th. Leerink Swann boosted their target price on shares of C.R. Bard from $196.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 30th. Finally, Piper Jaffray Cos. reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $241.00 target price on shares of C.R. Bard in a research note on Tuesday, May 24th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $232.25.
Shares of C.R. Bard (NYSE:BCR) traded up 0.55% during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $224.88. 481,476 shares of the company traded hands. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.49 billion and a P/E ratio of 52.30. C.R. Bard has a 12-month low of $172.21 and a 12-month high of $239.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $230.52 and its 200 day moving average is $207.96.
In related news, CFO Christopher S. Holland sold 3,970 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.89, for a total transaction of $872,963.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,306 shares in the company, valued at $6,883,876.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John P. Groetelaars sold 1,162 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.88, for a total transaction of $255,500.56. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,832,728.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 29th. Investors of record on Monday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 14th. This is a positive change from C.R. Bard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.
C. R. Bard, Inc (Bard) and its subsidiaries are engaged in designing, manufacturing, packaging, distribution and sale of medical, surgical, diagnostic and patient care devices. The Company sells its products to hospitals, individual healthcare professionals, extended care facilities and alternate site facilities.
