Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Shares Up 0.5% Following Analyst Upgrade

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)’s share price rose 0.5% on Thursday 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 $48.20 and last traded at $48.10. Approximately 2,345,663 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 15,664,869 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.84.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Societe Generale cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $77.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.18.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bristol-Myers Squibb

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riversedge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 5,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Vicus Capital grew its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 4,824 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,931 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 8,060 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $468,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Front Row Advisors LLC grew its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 1,222 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Price Performance

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

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $11.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.19 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a net margin of 17.83% and a return on equity of 50.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.90%. 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.