Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Shares Sold by Washington Trust Advisors Inc.

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 20.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,267 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,903 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the fourth quarter worth about $1,873,696,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 114,228.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,469,785 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,544,751,000 after buying an additional 21,451,006 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 48.0% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the fourth quarter worth approximately $86,965,000. Finally, Cowa LLC raised its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 9,777.8% in the first quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 1,657,894 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641,110 shares during the period. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE BMY traded up $1.01 on Thursday, hitting $54.26. 5,923,223 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,727,746. The company has a market cap of $109.97 billion, a PE ratio of 13.95, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $50.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a fifty-two week low of $47.58 and a fifty-two week high of $71.07.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $11.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.19 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 50.95% and a net margin of 17.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.82 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 7th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the biopharmaceutical company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Dividend Announcement

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 paid 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 4.42%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Bristol-Myers Squibb 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.