Welch & Forbes LLC Has $6.96 Million Holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 135,704 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 14,928 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $6,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BMY. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 792.6% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 48.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,830,948 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $401,806,000 after acquiring an additional 2,540,360 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter valued at $86,965,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 3rd quarter valued at $82,405,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 25,292,711 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,467,989,000 after purchasing an additional 1,394,158 shares during the last quarter. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 0.3 %

BMY traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $44.04. The stock had a trading volume of 10,924,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,784,603. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.82 and a beta of 0.45. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 1-year low of $43.33 and a 1-year high of $69.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($4.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($4.53) by $0.13. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a positive return on equity of 8.83% and a negative net margin of 13.50%. The business had revenue of $11.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.45%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is -77.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BMY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $51.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Monday, April 1st. Societe Generale cut Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com lowered Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $77.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bristol-Myers Squibb presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.00.

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.