Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Stock Rating Upgraded by Leerink Partners

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) was upgraded by Leerink Partners from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $73.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $55.00. Leerink Partners’ price target points to a potential upside of 24.94% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on BMY. Citigroup cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $55.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.07.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Price Performance

Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb stock opened at $58.43 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a twelve month low of $39.35 and a twelve month high of $61.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 21.34 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.99.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $11.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.00 EPS. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.92 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Samit Hirawat acquired 1,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,395,499.03. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Phil M. Holzer sold 700 shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.62, for a total transaction 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 $654,091.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Samit Hirawat purchased 1,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $54.67 per share, for a total transaction of $100,046.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,395,499.03. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bristol-Myers Squibb

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMY. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,203,814 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,807,153,000 after acquiring an additional 8,675,322 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 1st quarter valued at about $392,608,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 12,547,823 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $680,469,000 after acquiring an additional 5,461,767 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 44,940,609 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,325,227,000 after acquiring an additional 4,275,787 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 86.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,546,311 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $313,398,000 after purchasing an additional 3,495,704 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company 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.