Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on BMY. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of 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 lowered shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $77.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. William Blair reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America lowered shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Societe Generale lowered shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $61.12.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 0.5 %

Bristol-Myers Squibb stock opened at $48.51 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 12 month low of $47.58 and a 12 month high of $70.93. The stock has a market cap of $98.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.39.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.15. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a net margin of 17.83% and a return on equity of 50.95%. The business had revenue of $11.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.82 EPS. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 5.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.95%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is currently 62.18%.

Institutional Trading of Bristol-Myers Squibb

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the fourth quarter worth about $1,560,524,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 5.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 25,292,711 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,467,989,000 after buying an additional 1,394,158 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in 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 last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

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.