Investors Purchase Large Volume of Bristol-Myers Squibb Put Options (NYSE:BMY)

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 41,749 put options on the company. This is an increase of 40% compared to the typical daily volume of 29,843 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on BMY. Jefferies Financial Group raised Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $63.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Samit Hirawat bought 1,823 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $54.84 per share, with a total value of $99,973.32. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 63,932 shares in the company, valued at $3,506,030.88. The trade was a 2.94 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bristol-Myers Squibb

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. United Bank raised its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 17,322 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $896,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,961,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 76.3% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 15,461 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $800,000 after purchasing an additional 6,690 shares in the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 21.3% in the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 10,919 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $565,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920 shares during the period. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 3rd quarter valued at about $133,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.41% of the company’s stock.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb stock opened at $58.90 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $119.52 billion, a PE ratio of -13.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.43. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 1 year low of $39.35 and a 1 year 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $58.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.17.

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

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.21%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is presently -56.11%.

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.