Share Repurchase Program Initiated by Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) Board

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical instruments supplier to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BDX. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $286.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com downgraded Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup raised Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.00.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Stock Up 0.4 %

Becton, Dickinson and Company stock traded up $1.05 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $249.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,741,418 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,983,307. The company has a market cap of $72.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $228.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $233.31. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a fifty-two week low of $218.75 and a fifty-two week high of $250.91.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.04. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a return on equity of 14.89% and a net margin of 8.55%. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 14.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s payout ratio is 70.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Michael David Garrison sold 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.51, for a total transaction of $141,196.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,311,211.44. This trade represents a 9.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP David Shan sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total value of $120,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 5,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,377,840. This trade represents a 8.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,844 shares of company stock valued at $2,210,716 over the last three months. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Company Profile

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.