Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on BMY. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $77.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Bank of America cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Societe Generale cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. William Blair restated a market perform rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $61.18.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE BMY opened at $48.30 on Monday. 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 52-week low of $47.58 and a 52-week high of $70.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $51.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.57. The stock has a market cap of $97.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.15. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a net margin of 17.83% and a return on equity of 50.95%. The firm had revenue of $11.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.82 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.47 EPS for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Dividend Announcement

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is currently 62.18%.

Institutional Trading of Bristol-Myers Squibb

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMY. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the third quarter worth about $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

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.