Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Trading 0.5% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)’s stock price rose 0.5% on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $51.00 to $52.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Bristol-Myers Squibb traded as high as $48.20 and last traded at $48.10. Approximately 2,345,663 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 15,664,869 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.84.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Monday, April 1st. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $77.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $60.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bristol-Myers Squibb has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.18.

Institutional Trading of Bristol-Myers Squibb

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Herold Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.2% in the third quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. now owns 33,668 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,954,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 9.5% in the third quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 139,811 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,115,000 after purchasing an additional 12,121 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 14.8% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 101,772 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,907,000 after purchasing an additional 13,122 shares in the last quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC raised its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 11.4% in the third quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC now owns 12,171 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.5% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 105,986 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,151,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $97.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $11.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.19 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 50.95% and a net margin of 17.83%. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.18%.

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.