Principal Securities Inc. Purchases 7,204 Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)

Principal Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY - Free Report) by 19.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,800 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,204 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.'s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $2,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BMY. FMR LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 4,275,787 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 420.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,241,255 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $219,443,000 after acquiring an additional 3,425,789 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 695.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,554,758 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $183,971,000 after acquiring an additional 3,107,672 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 19,074,823 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $986,931,000 after acquiring an additional 3,002,418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,968,729 shares during the last quarter. 76.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Leerink Partners upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Daiwa America upgraded Bristol-Myers Squibb from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $57.86.

Insider Activity

In other Bristol-Myers Squibb news, EVP Samit Hirawat bought 1,823 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $54.84 per share, with a total value of $99,973.32. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 63,932 shares in the company, valued at $3,506,030.88. This represents a 2.94 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 0.1 %

BMY stock traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $55.85. 11,100,311 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,886,042. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52-week low of $39.35 and a 52-week high of $61.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.25. The business has a 50 day moving average of $56.99 and a 200-day moving average of $54.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.45.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.20. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a positive return on equity of 13.93% and a negative net margin of 18.53%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This is a boost from Bristol-Myers Squibb's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.44%. Bristol-Myers Squibb's dividend payout ratio is currently -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.