Welch Group LLC Trims Stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Welch Group LLC cut its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 21.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,884 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 3,453 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMY. ESL Trust Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the third quarter valued at $34,000. LGT Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 42.7% in the 2nd quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC now owns 759 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 1st quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BMY shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $53.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com raised Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup downgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $55.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.57.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE BMY traded up $0.70 on Monday, hitting $52.62. The stock had a trading volume of 975,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,486,474. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52-week low of $39.35 and a 52-week high of $55.03. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $50.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $106.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.75 and a beta of 0.46.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $12.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.54 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a positive return on equity of 12.51% and a negative net margin of 14.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.75 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.56%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -77.42%.

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.