Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Reduces Position in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lowered its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 62.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,476 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 14,374 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BMY. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 92,896,580 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,806,469,000 after buying an additional 1,451,214 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 61,030,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,157,713,000 after buying an additional 1,968,729 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 10.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 44,940,609 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,325,227,000 after acquiring an additional 4,275,787 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,204,016 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,228,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,036,495 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 19,074,823 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $986,931,000 after purchasing an additional 3,002,418 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Bristol-Myers Squibb

In other news, SVP Phil M. Holzer sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.62, for a total transaction of $38,934.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,760 shares in the company, valued at $654,091.20. This represents a 5.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BMY opened at $59.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.46, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.45. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 1-year low of $39.35 and a 1-year high of $61.10. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $57.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.31. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a positive return on equity of 11.94% and a negative net margin of 15.30%. The business had revenue of $11.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.20%. This is a positive change from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is presently -69.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on BMY shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $63.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bristol-Myers Squibb has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.60.

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.