Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys New Stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company $BDX

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 12,450 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,884,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 98.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,770 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 627,900 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $122,403,000 after acquiring an additional 26,671 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its position in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,126,471 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $218,614,000 after acquiring an additional 240,673 shares during the period. Northside Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 18.3% during the second quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC now owns 61,324 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $9,280,000 after acquiring an additional 9,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,567,000. 86.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BDX. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $163.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Becton, Dickinson and Company in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $202.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Becton, Dickinson and Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $185.67.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Stock Performance

Shares of BDX opened at $189.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.27 billion, a PE ratio of 57.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.36 and a beta of 0.19. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $166.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $160.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.51. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a 12-month low of $127.59 and a 12-month high of $193.07.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $4.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.89 billion. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 14.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. Becton, Dickinson and Company has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.620-12.720 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 12.67 EPS for the current year.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Michael David Garrison sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.66, for a total transaction of $160,226.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 13,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,918,633.52. The trade was a 7.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Roland Goette sold 2,438 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.84, for a total value of $440,887.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 14,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,686,559.04. This trade represents a 14.10% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,869 shares of company stock worth $1,994,719. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Company Profile

Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX) is a global medical technology company that develops, manufactures and sells a broad range of medical devices, instrument systems and reagents. BD’s products are used by healthcare institutions, clinical laboratories, life science researchers and the pharmaceutical industry to enable safe, effective delivery of care, specimen collection and diagnostic testing. The company’s operations span multiple business areas focused on medical devices, life sciences research tools and interventional technologies.

BD’s product portfolio includes single-use medical devices such as syringes, needles, needlesafety and injection systems, infusion therapy and medication management solutions, as well as vascular access, urology and oncology devices acquired through its interventional business.