Director of Becton Dickinson Picks Up 660% More Stock

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the Director, Gregory Hayes, recently bought a whopping US$1.0m worth of stock, at a price of US$192. That increased their holding by a full 660%, which arguably implies the sort of confidence required for a shy sweet-natured nerd to ask the most popular kid in the school to go out on a date.

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Becton Dickinson Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent purchase by Gregory Hayes is the biggest insider purchase of Becton Dickinson shares that we've seen in the last year. That implies that an insider found the current price of US$193 per share to be enticing. That means they have been optimistic about the company in the past, though they may have changed their mind. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. Happily, the Becton Dickinson insiders decided to buy shares at close to current prices.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 6.75k shares for US$1.4m. But they sold 1.56k shares for US$326k. In total, Becton Dickinson insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

View our latest analysis for Becton Dickinson

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Does Becton Dickinson Boast High Insider Ownership?

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Becton Dickinson insiders own 0.1% of the company, worth about US$72m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Becton Dickinson Tell Us?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. Insiders likely see value in Becton Dickinson shares, given these transactions (along with notable insider ownership of the company). In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Becton Dickinson. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Becton Dickinson (1 is a bit unpleasant) you should be aware of.

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For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.