Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.62

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 11th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.62 per share by the biopharmaceutical company on Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. This is an increase from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60.

Bristol-Myers Squibb has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 16 years. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a payout ratio of 34.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Bristol-Myers Squibb to earn $7.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.5%.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of BMY traded down $1.47 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $56.65. The stock had a trading volume of 10,056,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,068,146. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.07. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 12 month low of $39.35 and a 12 month high of $61.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83. The company has a market capitalization of $114.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.01, a P/E/G ratio of 15.93 and a beta of 0.45.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $11.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.26 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bristol-Myers Squibb

In other news, SVP Phil M. Holzer sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.62, for a total transaction of $38,934.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,091.20. This represents a 5.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Samit Hirawat bought 1,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $54.67 per share, with a total value of $100,046.10. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 62,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,395,499.03. This represents a 3.04 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BMY shares. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.29.

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.