California State Teachers Retirement System Purchases 3,864 Shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX)

California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 487,668 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after purchasing an additional 3,864 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.17% of Becton, Dickinson and Company worth $110,637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,724,354 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $618,074,000 after buying an additional 115,943 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,419,232 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $321,981,000 after buying an additional 311,915 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 425.5% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 494 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $112,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 422.1% in the 4th quarter. Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. now owns 5,947 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $1,349,000 after buying an additional 4,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boothbay Fund Management LLC grew its position in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 115.8% in the fourth quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 41,790 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $9,481,000 after acquiring an additional 22,422 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. William Blair lowered shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Raymond James lowered shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Becton, Dickinson and Company from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $192.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Becton, Dickinson and Company from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $260.00 to $185.00 in a report on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $235.88.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE BDX traded down $0.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $168.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,519,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,809,743. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a one year low of $166.15 and a one year high of $251.99. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $215.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $226.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $48.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.35.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.35 billion. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a net margin of 8.47% and a return on equity of 15.74%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 14.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Becton, Dickinson and Company's payout ratio is 69.10%.

Becton, Dickinson and Company announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical instruments supplier to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Becton, Dickinson and Company

In other Becton, Dickinson and Company news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.99, for a total value of $159,593.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 36,033 shares in the company, valued at $8,215,163.67. This represents a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael David Garrison sold 479 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.28, for a total value of $94,497.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,887 shares of the company's stock, valued at $964,107.36. This represents a 8.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,578 shares of company stock worth $795,986. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.