Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Raised to “Buy” at Jefferies Financial Group

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) was upgraded by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has a $70.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $63.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 21.42% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Daiwa America raised Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Leerink Partners raised Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.64.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 3.2 %

BMY stock opened at $57.65 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $116.92 billion, a PE ratio of -16.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 15.20 and a beta of 0.45. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52 week low of $39.35 and a 52 week high of $61.08. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.63.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.31. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a positive return on equity of 11.94% and a negative net margin of 15.30%. The business had revenue of $11.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Samit Hirawat purchased 1,830 shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $54.67 per share, for a total transaction of $100,046.10. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Phil M. Holzer sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,091.20. The trade was a 5.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 10.5% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 increased its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 420.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,241,255 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $219,443,000 after purchasing an additional 3,425,789 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position 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 purchasing 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 Bristol-Myers Squibb by 18.7% in 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 worth $986,931,000 after buying an additional 3,002,418 shares during the period. 76.41% of the stock is 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.