Ballentine Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX)

Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,291 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 327 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company were worth $793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 277.3% during the first 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. boosted its position 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 worth $314,544,000 after purchasing an additional 788,735 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company in the 1st quarter worth approximately $173,692,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 32.5% during the 2nd 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 buying an additional 688,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 8.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,412,163 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,031,167,000 after buying an additional 346,720 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.97% of the company’s stock.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Stock Down 0.2 %

BDX opened at $238.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.45, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $237.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $235.15. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a twelve month low of $218.75 and a twelve month high of $259.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $4.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.08 billion. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a net margin of 7.13% and a return on equity of 14.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.96 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 13.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on BDX. Raymond James cut their target price on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $275.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $255.00 to $275.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted 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 report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $282.63.

Becton, Dickinson and 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.