Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Upgraded by Jefferies Financial Group to Buy Rating

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $70.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $63.00.

BMY has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Leerink Partners raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $55.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Friday, October 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bristol-Myers Squibb currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.64.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Price Performance

Bristol-Myers Squibb stock opened at $55.86 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.51. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 12 month low of $39.35 and a 12 month high of $61.08. The company has a market cap of $113.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.56, a PEG ratio of 15.20 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.31. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a negative net margin of 15.30% and a positive return on equity of 11.94%. The business had revenue of $11.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.44%. This is an increase from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is -69.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Phil M. Holzer sold 700 shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,091.20. This trade represents a 5.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Samit Hirawat acquired 1,830 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $54.67 per share, with a total value of $100,046.10. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,395,499.03. The trade was a 3.04 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bristol-Myers Squibb

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMY. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 86.3% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,546,311 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $313,398,000 after purchasing an additional 3,495,704 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 420.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,241,255 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $219,443,000 after purchasing an additional 3,425,789 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 695.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,554,758 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $183,971,000 after buying an additional 3,107,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $986,931,000 after buying an additional 3,002,418 shares during the period. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.