LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI Boosts Position in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI boosted its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,054 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $795,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 29,044 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 5,595 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 34.3% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 81.3% in the 3rd 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. Finally, Bellevue Group AG purchased a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the third quarter valued at $1,905,000. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BMY. UBS Group upped their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Leerink Partners raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $63.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.27.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Price Performance

BMY stock traded down $0.53 during trading on Friday, hitting $56.28. 4,634,378 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,212,888. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52 week low of $39.35 and a 52 week high of $61.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.68, a P/E/G ratio of 15.20 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 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 firm had revenue of $11.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This is a positive change from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is presently -69.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Phil M. Holzer sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.62, for a total value of $38,934.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,091.20. This represents a 5.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Samit Hirawat purchased 1,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $54.67 per share, for a total transaction of $100,046.10. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,109 shares in the company, 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 corporate insiders.

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.