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 report published on Monday morning.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on BMY. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $77.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $58.00 to $51.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Bank of America cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Societe Generale cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, William Blair reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bristol-Myers Squibb currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $61.12.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:BMY opened at $47.83 on Monday. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a one year low of $47.58 and a one year high of $70.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The company has a market cap of $96.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.39, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $51.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.59.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $11.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.18%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bristol-Myers Squibb

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BMY. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,560,524,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,544,751,000 after buying an additional 21,451,006 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 792.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,030,939 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $206,828,000 after buying an additional 3,579,324 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,207,549,000 after buying an additional 2,998,228 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted 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 acquiring an additional 2,814,746 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.