Eagle Asset Management Inc. Buys New Holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 54,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,961,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 61,030,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,157,713,000 after buying an additional 1,968,729 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 23,498,604 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $975,897,000 after purchasing an additional 225,197 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 20,225,040 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $839,946,000 after purchasing an additional 735,613 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 4.0% in the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 14,600,621 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $606,364,000 after purchasing an additional 556,295 shares during the period. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.5% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 14,201,746 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $734,798,000 after purchasing an additional 67,409 shares in the last quarter. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Phil M. Holzer sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 11,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,091.20. The trade was 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 the SEC website. Also, EVP Samit Hirawat acquired 1,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $54.67 per share, for a total transaction of $100,046.10. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now owns 62,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,395,499.03. This trade represents a 3.04 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BMY. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bristol-Myers Squibb has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.07.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Price Performance

Shares of BMY opened at $58.73 on Tuesday. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52 week low of $39.35 and a 52 week high of $61.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market cap of $119.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.36, a PEG ratio of 15.79 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $53.83 and a 200-day moving average of $47.87.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $11.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $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, analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.09%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is currently -66.85%.

About Bristol-Myers Squibb

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.