HSBC Upgrades Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) to “Hold”

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) was upgraded by stock analysts at HSBC from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $53.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $55.00. HSBC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 3.88% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective (down from $70.00) on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Friday, October 20th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $87.00 to $79.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Barclays decreased their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $62.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, October 2nd. SVB Leerink reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Monday, July 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Monday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bristol-Myers Squibb currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.20.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Price Performance

Shares of BMY opened at $51.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.39. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a twelve month low of $49.49 and a twelve month high of $81.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $58.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.79. The firm has a market cap of $106.59 billion, a PE ratio of 12.95, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.43.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.96 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 50.53% and a net margin of 18.44%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Bristol-Myers Squibb

In other Bristol-Myers Squibb news, EVP Robert M. Plenge sold 732 shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.14, for a total value of $44,754.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,545.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Ann Powell sold 17,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.25, for a total transaction of $1,101,642.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,868 shares in the company, valued at $1,706,915. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Robert M. Plenge sold 732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.14, for a total value of $44,754.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,545.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bristol-Myers Squibb

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BMY. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 86,002.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 659,143,253 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $42,152,211,000 after purchasing an additional 658,377,716 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 175,584,734 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $12,169,778,000 after buying an additional 2,856,746 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 92,570,288 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,919,870,000 after acquiring an additional 858,922 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 69,296,006 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,431,517,000 after acquiring an additional 7,878,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,034,341 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,489,314,000 after acquiring an additional 225,065 shares during the last quarter. 74.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Bristol-Myers Squibb

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, an oral inhibitor for reduction in risk of stroke/systemic embolism in NVAF, and for the treatment of DVT/PE; Opdivo for anti-cancer indications; Pomalyst/Imnovid indicated for patients with multiple myeloma; Orencia for adult patients with active RA and psoriatic arthritis; and Sprycel for the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia.