LaFleur & Godfrey LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC cut its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,054 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 4,619 shares during the quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $2,158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMY. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 92,570,288 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,919,870,000 after buying an additional 858,922 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter valued at $1,873,696,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 25,292,711 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,467,989,000 after acquiring an additional 1,394,158 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 114,228.7% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,469,785 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,544,751,000 after purchasing an additional 21,451,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 8.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,606,587 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $905,806,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,902 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE BMY traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $53.05. The company had a trading volume of 4,591,018 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,769,906. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $50.68 and a 200 day moving average of $52.49. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 1-year low of $47.58 and a 1-year high of $71.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.38.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. 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 shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $77.00 to $54.00 in a research note 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 company from $68.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bristol-Myers Squibb currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.12.

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.