Legal & General Group Plc Purchases 30,766 Shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company $BDX

Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,101,695 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,766 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company were worth $318,050,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BDX. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company in the third quarter valued at $25,000. SHP Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 152.2% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 169 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD bought a new stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Becton, Dickinson and Company

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Polen, Jr. sold 4,152 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.00, for a total transaction of $768,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,380,155. This represents a 3.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Michael David Garrison sold 1,100 shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.66, for a total value of $160,226.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 13,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,918,633.52. This represents a 7.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 11,704 shares of company stock valued at $1,963,618 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BDX. TD Cowen lifted 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 report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $161.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $195.00 price objective on Becton, Dickinson and Company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $202.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Becton, Dickinson and Company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $185.67.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Stock Down 0.5%

BDX opened at $189.87 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $52.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.19, a PEG ratio of 13.44 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $160.60. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a twelve month low of $127.59 and a twelve month high of $193.07.

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

Becton, Dickinson and Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $1.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s dividend payout ratio is 126.51%.

About Becton, Dickinson and Company

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.