Empirical Finance LLC Decreases Stock Position in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Empirical Finance LLC decreased its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 71,603 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,073 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $4,050,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMY. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 92,896,580 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,806,469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451,214 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 10.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 44,940,609 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,325,227,000 after acquiring an additional 4,275,787 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,204,016 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,228,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,036,495 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $986,931,000 after purchasing an additional 3,002,418 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.86.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE BMY opened at $56.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $115.51 billion, a PE ratio of -12.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.45. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 1-year low of $39.35 and a 1-year high of $61.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $57.56 and a 200-day moving average of $53.75. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.20. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a positive return on equity of 13.81% and a negative net margin of 18.53%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.75 EPS for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 dividend yield of 4.35%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is currently -56.11%.

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.