Legal & General Group Plc Sells 3,918,724 Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 19.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,125,806 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 3,918,724 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.80% of Bristol-Myers Squibb worth $912,076,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 39.8% during the third 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 last quarter. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Tacita Capital Inc bought a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BMY has been the subject of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $63.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bristol-Myers Squibb currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.86.

Insider Activity at Bristol-Myers Squibb

In other Bristol-Myers Squibb news, EVP Samit Hirawat purchased 1,823 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $54.84 per share, for a total transaction of $99,973.32. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now owns 63,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,506,030.88. The trade was a 2.94 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Down 4.3 %

BMY stock opened at $55.32 on Monday. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 12 month low of $39.35 and a 12 month high of $63.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.56 billion, a PE ratio of -12.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.20. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a positive return on equity of 13.93% and a negative net margin of 18.53%. Equities analysts expect that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio is presently -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.