M&G Plc Takes $392.61 Million Position in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,270,512 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,608,000. Bristol-Myers Squibb comprises 2.3% of M&G Plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. M&G Plc owned about 0.36% of Bristol-Myers Squibb as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 532.7% in the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,879 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582 shares during the last quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 30,056 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Great Diamond Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 4,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 367 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the first quarter valued at about $5,161,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,139,000. 76.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Price Performance

Shares of BMY stock traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $42.64. 12,839,934 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,336,650. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $41.68 and its 200-day moving average is $47.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $86.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 15.46 and a beta of 0.44. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52 week low of $39.35 and a 52 week high of $65.38.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its quarterly 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. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a positive return on equity of 8.83% and a negative net margin of 13.50%. The business had revenue of $11.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -77.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on BMY. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.07.

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.