Investment Partners LTD. Trims Position in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Investment Partners LTD. trimmed its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,877 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 622 shares during the quarter. Investment Partners LTD.’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BMY. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 5.3% during the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 15,258 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $886,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC increased its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 8.6% during the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 5,440 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the third quarter valued at $240,000. Grimes & Company Inc. increased its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 4.4% during the third quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 331,440 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $19,237,000 after acquiring an additional 14,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. increased its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 8.1% during the third quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,506 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. 76.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Bank of America cut Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Societe Generale cut Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.00.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Price Performance

BMY traded up $0.15 on Friday, hitting $44.85. 21,281,927 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,141,314. The firm has a market cap of $90.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.47, a P/E/G ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a one year low of $44.34 and a one year high of $69.10.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($4.40) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($4.53) by $0.13. The business had revenue of $11.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.45 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a positive return on equity of 50.04% and a negative net margin of 13.50%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is presently -77.42%.

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.