Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Purchases Shares of 9,510 Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 9,510 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $538,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 92,896,580 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,806,469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,451,214 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 61,030,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,157,713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,968,729 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake 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 worth $2,325,227,000 after purchasing an additional 4,275,787 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,204,016 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,228,425,000 after buying an additional 1,036,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,733,868 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,398,948,000 after buying an additional 1,482,410 shares in the last quarter. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bristol-Myers Squibb

In related news, EVP Samit Hirawat acquired 1,823 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $54.84 per share, with a total value of $99,973.32. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 63,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,506,030.88. This trade represents a 2.94 % 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. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BMY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target 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. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $63.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.86.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Up 1.5 %

BMY stock opened at $59.71 on Friday. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52 week low of $39.35 and a 52 week high of $61.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90. The company has a market cap of $121.17 billion, a PE ratio of -13.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.45.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This is a positive change from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.15%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -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.