Welch & Forbes LLC Has $6.29 Million Stock Holdings in Bristol Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY)

Welch & Forbes LLC lessened its stake in Bristol Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 103,131 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,600 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Bristol Myers Squibb were worth $6,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMY. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Bristol Myers Squibb by 33.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,728 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 4,935 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG acquired a new position in shares of Bristol Myers Squibb during the 4th quarter worth $13,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bristol Myers Squibb during the 4th quarter worth $240,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bristol Myers Squibb during the 4th quarter worth $213,000. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bristol Myers Squibb by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 29,302 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,657,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bristol Myers Squibb

In other Bristol Myers Squibb news, EVP Samit Hirawat bought 4,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $47.58 per share, for a total transaction of $202,215.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 83,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,973,548.54. The trade was a 5.36% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on BMY. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Bristol Myers Squibb in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Bristol Myers Squibb in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bristol Myers Squibb from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $55.00 target price (down from $67.00) on shares of Bristol Myers Squibb in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Bristol Myers Squibb from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.69.

Bristol Myers Squibb Price Performance

Shares of Bristol Myers Squibb stock opened at $46.47 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $47.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.10. Bristol Myers Squibb Company has a fifty-two week low of $40.09 and a fifty-two week high of $63.33. The company has a market cap of $94.57 billion, a PE ratio of 17.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.36.

Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.30. Bristol Myers Squibb had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 87.62%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($4.40) EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Bristol Myers Squibb Company will post 6.74 EPS for the current year.

Bristol Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.34%. Bristol Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.88%.

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.