Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Trading Up 0.2%

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)’s stock price shot up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $52.51 and last traded at $52.34. 1,341,803 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 16,831,941 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on BMY. Bank of America lowered Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $58.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $77.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Societe Generale cut Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.12.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 1.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $107.92 billion, a PE ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $50.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.31.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $11.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.19 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a net margin of 17.83% and a return on equity of 50.95%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.51%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.18%.

Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 7th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the biopharmaceutical company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bristol-Myers Squibb

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BMY. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the fourth quarter worth $1,560,524,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 114,228.7% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,469,785 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,544,751,000 after buying an additional 21,451,006 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 792.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,030,939 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $206,828,000 after buying an additional 3,579,324 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 23,534,378 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,207,549,000 after buying an additional 2,998,228 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 19,811,009 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,016,502,000 after buying an additional 2,814,746 shares during the period. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Profile

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company discovers, develops, licenses, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products worldwide. It offers products for hematology, oncology, cardiovascular, immunology, fibrotic, and neuroscience diseases. The company's products include Eliquis for reduction in risk of stroke/systemic embolism in non-valvular atrial fibrillation, and for the treatment of DVT/PE; Opdivo for various anti-cancer indications, including bladder, blood, CRC, head and neck, RCC, HCC, lung, melanoma, MPM, stomach and esophageal cancer; Pomalyst/Imnovid for multiple myeloma; Orencia for active rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis; and Sprycel for the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia.