WASHINGTON TRUST Co Has $793,000 Stock Holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,460 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 894 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 61.5% in the third quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 525 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 76.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE BMY traded up $1.02 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $54.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,580,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,719,523. The company has a market capitalization of $109.99 billion, a PE ratio of 13.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.38. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52 week low of $47.58 and a 52 week high of $71.07. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $11.48 billion during 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%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, December 7th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the biopharmaceutical company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is 62.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.