Advocate Group LLC Grows Holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Advocate Group LLC raised its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 145,177 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,936 shares during the period. Bristol-Myers Squibb accounts for about 1.5% of Advocate Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $8,211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 39.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the fourth quarter valued at about $488,000. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.8% in the third quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 5,595 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 34.3% in the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 44,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,305,000 after purchasing an additional 11,387 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 34,418 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Samit Hirawat bought 1,830 shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $54.67 per share, with a total value of $100,046.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 62,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,395,499.03. This trade represents a 3.04 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Phil M. Holzer sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.62, for a total transaction of $38,934.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,091.20. The trade was a 5.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance

Shares of BMY opened at $59.68 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market cap of $121.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.63, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $57.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.54. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 12-month low of $39.35 and a 12-month high of $61.08.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.31. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a negative net margin of 15.30% and a positive return on equity of 11.94%. The business had revenue of $11.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This is an increase from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is currently -69.08%.

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.