Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Trading Up 0.4% on Analyst Upgrade

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) shot up 0.4% during trading on Friday 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 $48.57 and last traded at $48.49. 1,886,248 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 15,592,247 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.30.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on BMY. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of 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 research report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Monday, April 1st. Societe Generale cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $68.00 to $60.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bristol-Myers Squibb has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.18.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bristol-Myers Squibb

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BMY. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the first quarter worth about $332,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 111.5% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,052 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 53.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 165,336 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $12,075,000 after buying an additional 57,444 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC bought a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,997,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 338,563 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $24,725,000 after buying an additional 68,018 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Up 1.3 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $51.23 and its 200-day moving average is $51.51. The stock has a market cap of $99.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $11.48 billion during 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is 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.