Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Buys 4,041 Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. raised its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 22.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,843 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 4,041 shares during the period. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $1,244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 4,275,787 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 420.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,241,255 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $219,443,000 after purchasing an additional 3,425,789 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 695.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,554,758 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $183,971,000 after purchasing an additional 3,107,672 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 18.7% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 3,002,418 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 61,030,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,157,713,000 after buying an additional 1,968,729 shares during the last quarter. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bristol-Myers Squibb news, SVP Phil M. Holzer sold 700 shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.62, for a total value of $38,934.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,091.20. This trade represents a 5.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BMY has been the subject of several research reports. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.60.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance

Shares of BMY stock opened at $58.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $119.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $57.60 and its 200 day moving average is $53.19. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a one year low of $39.35 and a one year high of $61.10.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $11.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.26 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a negative net margin of 15.30% and a positive return on equity of 11.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.00 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.21%. This is a boost from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -69.08%.

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.