Here’s Why Madison Investors Fund Sold Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX)
Madison Investments, an investment advisor, released its “Madison Investors Fund” second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the fund (Class Y) fell by 1.03% compared to a 4.28% return for the S&P 500 index. YTD the fund returned 8.50% compared to a 15.29% return for the index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Madison Investors Fund highlighted stocks like Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) develops and manufactures medical supplies, devices, laboratory equipment, and diagnostic products. The one-month return of Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) was -2.79%, and its shares lost 12.02% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 18, 2024, Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) stock closed at $231.74 per share with a market capitalization of $66.974 billion.
Madison Investors Fund stated the following regarding Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
"During the quarter, we sold our stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX). Becton is a leading global medical technology and diagnostics company. We admire its dominant market position spanning a vast array of consumable medical products. However, in more recent years, the company has pursued a capital allocation strategy focused a bit more on acquisitions than we’d prefer, and has had operational hiccups in some product lines and geographies. While we believe the company will manage through the issues, we decided to sell to fund more attractive opportunities."
A surgeon performing a procedure in an operating room using a medical device supplied by the company.
Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 60 hedge fund portfolios held Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) at the end of the first quarter which was 60 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we discussed Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) and shared the list of best dividend aristocrats stocks according to analysts. Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) was one of the detractors of Madison Investors Fund in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.