Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Short Interest Down 8.1% in September

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) saw a large drop in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 20,030,000 shares, a drop of 8.1% from the September 15th total of 21,790,000 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 13,600,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. ESL Trust Services LLC purchased a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. LGT Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 42.7% in the 2nd quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC now owns 759 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the first quarter worth $47,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the second quarter worth $39,000. 76.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com raised Bristol-Myers Squibb from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. UBS Group raised their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $53.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.20.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of BMY stock opened at $53.18 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $50.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 1-year low of $39.35 and a 1-year high of $57.59. The company has a market cap of $107.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.75 and a beta of 0.46.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.43. The firm had revenue of $12.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.54 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a negative net margin of 14.06% and a positive return on equity of 12.51%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.75 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.51%. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s payout ratio is presently -77.42%.

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.