Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Raises Stock Position in Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) by 19.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,162 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company were worth $280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 277.3% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,936,654 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $478,295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,423,353 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 141.6% during 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company during the 1st quarter valued at about $173,692,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 688,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 8.5% in the 2nd 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 during the period. 86.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BDX has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup raised Becton, Dickinson and Company from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $275.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $286.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price target on Becton, Dickinson and Company from $275.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $282.63.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Stock Up 0.3 %

BDX opened at $240.52 on Thursday. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a fifty-two week low of $218.75 and a fifty-two week high of $262.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.85. The stock has a market cap of $69.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $237.33 and its 200 day moving average is $235.16.

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

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.