Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Sells 11,351 Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) by 42.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,304 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 11,351 shares during the quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMY. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the third quarter worth $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 61.5% in the third quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 525 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. 76.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $68.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Societe Generale cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $77.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $58.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.12.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE BMY opened at $53.25 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $107.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $50.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.43. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 12 month low of $47.58 and a 12 month high of $71.07.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $11.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.19 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 50.95% and a net margin of 17.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the biopharmaceutical company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.18%.

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.