November 25, 2009 (FinancialWire) — The board of Becton, Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX ) has declared a quarterly dividend of 37 cents per common share, an increase from the previous quarter of 4 cents per share, or 12.1% . The board has also authorized BD to repurchase up to an additional 10 million of its common shares.

The dividend will be payable on January 4, 2010 to holders of record on December 14, 2009. At the current rate, the annual dividend for fiscal 2010 would be $1.48 cents per share.

BD plans to use the repurchased shares for general corporate purposes. The upped authorization supplements the approximately 7.6 million shares that remained available at September 30, 2009 under a 10 million-share repurchase authorization in November 2008. On September 30, 2009, BD had approximately 237 million common shares outstanding.

Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based Becton, Dickinson is a medical technology company that develops, manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems and reagents.

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