Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Has $545,000 Stock Holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC decreased its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,615 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $545,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the third quarter worth $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 525 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance

NYSE:BMY opened at $54.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.43. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a fifty-two week low of $47.58 and a fifty-two week high of $71.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $50.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.44. The company has a market cap of $109.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.05, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Bristol-Myers Squibb declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, December 7th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the biopharmaceutical company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is presently 62.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BMY. Societe Generale downgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. 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 shares of 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 report on Tuesday, February 6th. Bank of America lowered shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $58.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.12.

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.