Welch & Forbes LLC Has $5.98 Million Holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Welch & Forbes LLC cut its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 105,731 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,988 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $5,980,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,597,150 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $90,335,000 after purchasing an additional 60,365 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the fourth quarter worth $488,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. grew its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 39.0% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 103,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,355,000 after purchasing an additional 29,044 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 34.3% in the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 44,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,305,000 after purchasing an additional 11,387 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 81.3% in the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 76,775 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,972,000 after purchasing an additional 34,418 shares during the period. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $63.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Leerink Partners raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bristol-Myers Squibb currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.86.

Insider Transactions at Bristol-Myers Squibb

In other Bristol-Myers Squibb news, EVP Samit Hirawat bought 1,823 shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $54.84 per share, for a total transaction of $99,973.32. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance

NYSE BMY opened at $61.16 on Friday. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52-week low of $39.35 and a 52-week high of $63.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $124.11 billion, a PE ratio of -13.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.43.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts predict that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.74 EPS 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. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.