WASHINGTON TRUST Co Acquires 894 Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,460 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 894 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BMY. Next Level Private LLC lifted its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Next Level Private LLC now owns 58,223 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,987,000 after buying an additional 4,412 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA raised its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 127,314 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,532,000 after acquiring an additional 907 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 72,431 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,716,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC boosted its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 100,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,131,000 after purchasing an additional 12,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC raised its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 16,143 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $828,000 after buying an additional 2,638 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BMY shares. StockNews.com upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Redburn Atlantic cut Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $77.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Societe Generale lowered Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $58.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Bank of America lowered Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $60.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.12.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BMY traded up $1.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $54.27. The company had a trading volume of 5,580,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,719,523. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $50.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.43. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a twelve month low of $47.58 and a twelve month high of $71.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.99 billion, a PE ratio of 13.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $11.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.19 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 50.95% and a net margin of 17.83%. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.18%.

Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 7th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the biopharmaceutical company to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.