Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 53,868 Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Meritage Portfolio Management trimmed its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 77.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,294 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 53,868 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 61.5% during the third quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 525 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 300.5% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 737 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Up 1.3 %

BMY stock traded up $0.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $45.27. The company had a trading volume of 11,282,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,840,121. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company has a market capitalization of $91.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.26. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a fifty-two week low of $44.34 and a fifty-two week high of $69.10.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($4.40) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($4.53) by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $11.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.45 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 50.95% and a net margin of 17.83%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is 62.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BMY has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Barclays cut their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $51.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Redburn Atlantic cut Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $77.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bristol-Myers Squibb currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.00.

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.