Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 25,770,000 shares, a growth of 10.0% from the October 31st total of 23,420,000 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 11,080,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Insider Transactions at Bristol-Myers Squibb

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bristol-Myers Squibb

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 10.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 44,940,609 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,325,227,000 after buying an additional 4,275,787 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 86.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,546,311 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $313,398,000 after buying an additional 3,495,704 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 420.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,241,255 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $219,443,000 after buying an additional 3,425,789 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 695.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,554,758 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $183,971,000 after buying an additional 3,107,672 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 18.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 19,074,823 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $986,931,000 after buying an additional 3,002,418 shares during the period. 76.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BMY shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.07.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BMY traded down $0.35 on Wednesday, hitting $58.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,290,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,174,374. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $118.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.08 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $54.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.49. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $11.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.26 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a positive return on equity of 11.94% and a negative net margin of 15.30%. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is -66.85%.

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.