Traders Purchase High Volume of Bristol-Myers Squibb Call Options (NYSE:BMY)

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 296,826 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 866% compared to the average daily volume of 30,739 call options.

Insider Activity

In other Bristol-Myers Squibb news, EVP Samit Hirawat acquired 1,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $54.67 per share, for a total transaction of $100,046.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,109 shares in the company, valued at $3,395,499.03. This represents a 3.04 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Phil M. Holzer sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.62, for a total value of $38,934.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,091.20. The trade was a 5.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bristol-Myers Squibb

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BMY. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 10.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 44,940,609 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,325,227,000 after purchasing an additional 4,275,787 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 86.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,546,311 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $313,398,000 after buying an additional 3,495,704 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 420.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,241,255 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $219,443,000 after buying an additional 3,425,789 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 695.1% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,554,758 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $183,971,000 after acquiring an additional 3,107,672 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 18.7% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 3,002,418 shares during the period. 76.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on BMY. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group increased their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Daiwa America upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.64.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE BMY traded up $0.22 during trading on Thursday, reaching $56.78. 6,004,516 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,999,770. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.16 billion, a PE ratio of -15.82, a P/E/G ratio of 15.20 and a beta of 0.45. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a fifty-two week low of $39.35 and a fifty-two 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.75.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $11.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.37%. This is an increase from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -69.08%.

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.