J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) by 3.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,008 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 94 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company were worth $703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 277.3% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,936,654 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $478,295,000 after purchasing an additional 1,423,353 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 141.6% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,345,873 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $314,544,000 after purchasing an additional 788,735 shares during the period. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company during the first quarter valued at approximately $173,692,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 8.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,412,163 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,031,167,000 after purchasing an additional 346,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company in the 1st quarter worth about $75,493,000. Institutional investors own 86.97% of the company’s stock.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of BDX opened at $234.04 on Tuesday. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a 1 year low of $218.75 and a 1 year high of $269.52. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $234.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $235.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market cap of $67.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.42.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $4.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.08 billion. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a return on equity of 14.49% and a net margin of 7.13%. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.96 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.95 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BDX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $290.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $275.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup cut their target price on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.50.

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.