Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Shares Sold by Peoples Financial Services CORP.

Peoples Financial Services CORP. lowered its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,226 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 255 shares during the quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP.’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $1,144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 39.0% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 103,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,355,000 after purchasing an additional 29,044 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 5,595 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 44,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,305,000 after purchasing an additional 11,387 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 81.3% in the 3rd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 76,775 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,972,000 after purchasing an additional 34,418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellevue Group AG bought a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,905,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BMY opened at $55.73 on Wednesday. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a twelve month low of $39.35 and a twelve month high of $61.08. The firm has a market cap of $113.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.52, a P/E/G ratio of 15.20 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $57.44 and a 200-day moving average of $51.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $11.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This is a positive change from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.45%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is currently -69.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BMY. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $63.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.27.

Insider Activity at Bristol-Myers Squibb

In other news, EVP Samit Hirawat purchased 1,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $54.67 per share, for a total transaction of $100,046.10. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,395,499.03. The trade was a 3.04 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Phil M. Holzer sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.62, for a total transaction of $38,934.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,091.20. This trade represents a 5.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.