Bristol-Myers Squibb Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:BMY)

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 71,976 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 122% compared to the typical daily volume of 32,365 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bristol-Myers Squibb news, EVP Samit Hirawat purchased 1,823 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $54.84 per share, for a total transaction of $99,973.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 63,932 shares in the company, valued at $3,506,030.88. This represents a 2.94 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bristol-Myers Squibb

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 189,944,516 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,743,262,000 after buying an additional 1,373,209 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 45,866,624 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,593,940,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218,865 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,391,247 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,505,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187,231 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the fourth quarter worth $1,989,525,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 32,079,246 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,814,341,000 after purchasing an additional 12,011,983 shares during the period. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of BMY stock opened at $48.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $99.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 12-month low of $39.35 and a 12-month high of $63.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $56.50 and a 200-day moving average of $56.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.25. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a positive return on equity of 13.93% and a negative net margin of 18.53%. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($4.40) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is -56.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BMY has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $55.00 target price (down previously from $67.00) on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup increased their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bristol-Myers Squibb has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.00.

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.