Is Becton Dickinson and Co (BDX) A Good Stock To Buy Right Now?

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Because Becton Dickinson and Co (NYSE:BDX) has witnessed a decline in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there was a specific group of money managers that slashed their entire stakes in the third quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Christopher James’s fund, Partner Fund Management, said goodbye to its stock, about $39.5 million worth. Quant hedge fund RenTech and Clinton Group, led by George Hall, were among the hedge funds dumping their positions as well.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Becton Dickinson and Co (NYSE:BDX). These stocks are Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT), Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), and T MOBILE US INC (NYSE:TMUS). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to BDX’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
SYT 36 1223559 3
MMC 31 540778 7
YHOO 90 8274108 9
TMUS 58 3343677 6

As you can see these stocks had an average of 54 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $3.35 billion. That figure was $683 million in BDX’s case. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) is the least popular one with only 31 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Becton Dickinson and Co (NYSE:BDX) is even less popular than MMC. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.

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