diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/beanutils2/converters/DateTimeConverter.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/beanutils2/converters/DateTimeConverter.java
index 7515b3461..3e7952df8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/beanutils2/converters/DateTimeConverter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/beanutils2/converters/DateTimeConverter.java
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ protected <T> T convertToType(final Class<T> targetType, final Object value) thr
             // didn't include the milliseconds. The following code
             // ensures it works consistently across JDK versions
             final java.sql.Timestamp timestamp = (java.sql.Timestamp) value;
-            long timeInMillis = timestamp.getTime() / 1000 * 1000;
+            long timeInMillis = Math.floorDiv(timestamp.getTime(), 1000) * 1000;
             timeInMillis += timestamp.getNanos() / 1000000;
             return toDate(targetType, timeInMillis);
         }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/beanutils2/converters/DateConverterTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/beanutils2/converters/DateConverterTest.java
index a3cd6e40c..282f67192 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/beanutils2/converters/DateConverterTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/beanutils2/converters/DateConverterTest.java
@@ -17,9 +17,14 @@
 
 package org.apache.commons.beanutils2.converters;
 
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+
+import java.sql.Timestamp;
 import java.util.Calendar;
 import java.util.Date;
 
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
 /**
  * Test Case for the DateConverter class.
  */
@@ -66,4 +71,16 @@ protected DateConverter makeConverter(final Date defaultValue) {
     protected Date toType(final Calendar value) {
         return value.getTime();
     }
+
+    /**
+     * A pre-epoch {@link Timestamp} carries a non-negative sub-second part in {@code getNanos()}, so decomposing
+     * {@code getTime()} into whole seconds must floor: integer division truncates toward zero for negative values and
+     * gains a whole second.
+     */
+    @Test
+    void testConvertPreEpochSqlTimestamp() {
+        // 1969-12-31T23:59:59.500Z: getTime() == -500, getNanos() == 500_000_000
+        final Timestamp timestamp = new Timestamp(-500L);
+        assertEquals(-500L, makeConverter().convert(getExpectedType(), timestamp).getTime());
+    }
 }