Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Trading 1.1% Higher

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) traded up 1.1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $53.84 and last traded at $53.83. 1,606,806 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 16,659,934 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.25.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BMY shares. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $77.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Bank of America lowered Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $68.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $58.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.12.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $109.91 billion, a PE ratio of 14.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $50.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.31.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $11.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.19 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 50.95% and a net margin of 17.83%. The company’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is currently 62.18%.

Bristol-Myers Squibb declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 7th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the biopharmaceutical company to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Bristol-Myers Squibb

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the second quarter valued at $28,000. 76.41% of the stock is currently 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 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.