Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Trims Stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,222 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 595 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Meridian Management Co. grew its holdings in 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 period. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 61.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 492 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 664 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.8% in the 3rd 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. Institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bristol-Myers Squibb

In related news, SVP Phil M. Holzer sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.62, for a total value of $38,934.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,091.20. This represents a 5.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Samit Hirawat bought 1,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 purchase, the executive vice president now owns 62,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,395,499.03. The trade was a 3.04 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on BMY. 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. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Leerink Partners upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $63.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bristol-Myers Squibb presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.27.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb stock opened at $55.73 on Wednesday. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.76. The stock has a market cap of $113.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.52, a P/E/G ratio of 15.20 and a beta of 0.45. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 1-year low of $39.35 and a 1-year high of $61.08.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.31. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a positive return on equity of 11.94% and a negative net margin of 15.30%. The company had revenue of $11.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This is an increase from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.45%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is -69.08%.

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.