Ascent Group LLC Buys 4,148 Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY – Get Rating) by 33.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,492 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 4,148 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $1,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Partners grew its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 103.1% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 10,166,384 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $725,297,000 after purchasing an additional 5,161,226 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 71,882,436 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,534,947,000 after purchasing an additional 4,855,169 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 174,002,852 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $12,369,862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,357,590 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,886,585 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,209,937,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,491 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 131.2% in the 2nd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,307,254 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $408,659,000 after purchasing an additional 3,011,581 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Bristol-Myers Squibb

In other news, EVP Ann Powell sold 11,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $835,258.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,721,081.67. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Ann Powell sold 11,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $835,258.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,043 shares in the company, valued at $1,721,081.67. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Giovanni Caforio sold 240,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.65, for a total value of $17,916,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 236,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,625,163.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BMY. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Monday, March 6th. They set a “hold” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Finally, Atlantic Securities increased their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.69.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance

Shares of BMY opened at $66.47 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.96. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52-week low of $65.28 and a 52-week high of $81.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $11.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.20 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 51.60% and a net margin of 13.71%. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 8.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 10th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 6th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.29%.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Profile

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Bristol Myers Squibb Co engages in the discovery, development, licensing, manufacture, marketing, distribution, and sale of biopharmaceutical products. It offers chemically-synthesized drugs or small molecules and products produced from biological processes called biologics. The company was founded in August 1933 and is headquartered in New York, NY.