Argent Trust Co Purchases 587 Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Argent Trust Co grew its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 72,401 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 587 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $4,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMY. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,989,525,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3,880.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,977,505 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $338,088,000 after acquiring an additional 5,827,317 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 4th quarter valued at $257,618,000. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 49.7% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 11,413,428 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $639,837,000 after buying an additional 3,787,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,733,868 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,398,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,482,410 shares in the last quarter. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $55.00 price target (down previously from $67.00) on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bristol-Myers Squibb has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.67.

Insider Activity

In other Bristol-Myers Squibb news, EVP Samit Hirawat acquired 1,823 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $54.84 per share, for a total transaction of $99,973.32. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 63,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,506,030.88. This trade represents a 2.94 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance

Bristol-Myers Squibb stock traded down $1.90 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $51.84. 1,891,494 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,828,450. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $58.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.73. The firm has a market cap of $105.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.73, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a fifty-two week low of $39.35 and a fifty-two week high of $63.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.20. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a negative net margin of 18.53% and a positive return on equity of 13.93%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is presently -56.11%.

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.