Van ECK Associates Corp Cuts Stock Holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,069,826 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 863,765 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $512,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the fourth quarter valued at about $488,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 39.0% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 103,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,355,000 after buying an additional 29,044 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 5,595 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 44,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,305,000 after buying an additional 11,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 81.3% in the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 76,775 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,972,000 after acquiring an additional 34,418 shares in the last quarter. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BMY has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Leerink Partners upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bristol-Myers Squibb currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.86.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance

NYSE:BMY opened at $56.17 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $57.42 and its 200 day moving average is $54.00. The firm has a market cap of $113.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.71, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.24. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52-week low of $39.35 and a 52-week high of $61.10.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.42%. This is an increase from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.