Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Trims Holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 58,309 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,717 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $3,099,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BMY. Edmp Inc. raised its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 41,599 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,353,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. raised its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 9,423 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $533,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,538 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $426,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Management Co. raised its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.6% during the third quarter. Meridian Management Co. now owns 28,283 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,878 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BMY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Leerink Partners raised Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on 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, Wolfe Research began coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.86.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Price Performance

Bristol-Myers Squibb stock opened at $53.85 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $57.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.15. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a one year low of $39.35 and a one year high of $61.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $109.22 billion, a PE ratio of -12.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.45.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 positive return on equity of 13.81% and a negative net margin of 18.53%. As a group, research analysts expect that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.61%. This is a positive change from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is currently -56.11%.

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.