Carret Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Carret Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 56,617 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 720 shares during the quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $3,070,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the fourth quarter valued at $1,560,524,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 792.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,030,939 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $206,828,000 after acquiring an additional 3,579,324 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 23,534,378 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,207,549,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998,228 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 48.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,830,948 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $401,806,000 after purchasing an additional 2,540,360 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,357,199 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $480,118,000 after buying an additional 2,510,134 shares during the last quarter. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BMY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Societe Generale cut Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $51.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.00.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance

NYSE BMY traded down $0.39 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $40.06. The company had a trading volume of 9,078,116 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,748,871. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99. The stock has a market cap of $81.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.94, a P/E/G ratio of 14.21 and a beta of 0.44. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a fifty-two week low of $39.63 and a fifty-two week high of $65.38. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.97.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($4.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($4.53) by $0.13. The company had revenue of $11.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.45 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a negative net margin of 13.50% and a positive return on equity of 8.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.