Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Acquires 7,045 Shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 410,218 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 7,045 shares during the quarter. Becton, Dickinson and Company comprises 1.9% of Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC owned about 0.14% of Becton, Dickinson and Company worth $98,904,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 79.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,986,543 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $720,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317,723 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 141.6% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,345,873 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $314,544,000 after buying an additional 788,735 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 32.5% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 2,803,255 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $655,149,000 after acquiring an additional 688,296 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,365,554 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,293,635,000 after acquiring an additional 460,440 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company during the 3rd quarter valued at $108,243,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on BDX. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $286.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup raised shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $275.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $283.00.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Stock Down 0.6 %

BDX opened at $224.00 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $235.15 and a 200-day moving average of $234.55. The company has a market capitalization of $64.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.43. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a fifty-two week low of $218.75 and a fifty-two week high of $249.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.38 billion. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 14.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.42 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 14.43 EPS for the current year.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.04 per share. This is an increase from Becton, Dickinson and Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s payout ratio is presently 63.97%.

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.