Ellis Investment Partners LLC Purchases 848 Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Ellis Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,186 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 848 shares during the quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. TigerOak Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 319.2% during the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 89,258 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,048,000 after purchasing an additional 67,966 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $279,000. Finally, Spinnaker Trust increased its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 16,033 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on BMY. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $63.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Daiwa America raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.86.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance

BMY opened at $53.85 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83. The company has a market cap of $109.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.18, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.45. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52-week low of $39.35 and a 52-week high of $61.10. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.10.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.20. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a negative net margin of 18.53% and a positive return on equity of 13.81%. Equities analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.61%. This is a boost from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is -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.