Bristol Myers Squibb Announces Dividend Increase and Additional $15 Billion Share Repurchase Authorization
December 13 2021 - 6:59AM
Business Wire
Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) today announced that on
December 10, 2021, its Board of Directors approved an increase in
the quarterly dividend and authorized an additional multi-year
share repurchase program.
“The company’s financial position is strong, and we remain
committed to a consistent, balanced capital allocation strategy,”
said Giovanni Caforio, board chair and chief executive officer,
Bristol Myers Squibb. “With significant free cash flow of $45
billion to $50 billion expected between 2021 and 2023, investment
in business development continues to be a key priority for the
company in driving innovation and sustained growth as we return
capital to shareholders through the dividend increase and expanded
share repurchase authorization. We remain committed to maintaining
a strong investment grade credit rating and reducing our debt.”
Increase in 2022 Dividend
The Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of
fifty-four cents ($0.54) per share on the $.10 par value common
stock of the company. The dividend is payable on February 1, 2022
to stockholders of record at the close of business on January 7,
2022.
This amount represents a 10.2% increase in the quarterly
dividend over last year’s quarterly rate of forty-nine cents
($0.49) per share. At this quarterly dividend rate, subject to the
normal quarterly review by the Board of Directors, the annual
dividend rate for the fiscal year 2022 is $2.16 per share. This
marks the thirteenth consecutive fiscal year that Bristol Myers
Squibb increased its dividend payouts.
In addition, the Board of Directors has declared a quarterly
dividend of fifty cents ($0.50) per share on the company’s $2.00
convertible preferred stock, payable March 1, 2022 to stockholders
of record at the close of business on February 1, 2022.
Multi-Year Share Repurchase Authorization
The Board of Directors also authorized the repurchase of an
additional $15 billion of the company’s common stock. With this
increase, the company’s total outstanding share repurchase
authorization is approximately $15.2 billion. This multi-year
authorization enables management to execute repurchases at its
discretion.
The timing and amount of any share repurchases under the
authorization will be determined by management at its discretion
and based on market conditions and other considerations. Share
repurchases under the authorizations may be made through a variety
of methods, which may include open market purchases, pursuant to
pre-set trading plans meeting the requirements of Rule 10b-1 under
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, in privately negotiated
transactions, block trades, accelerated share repurchase
transactions, or any combination of such methods. The program does
not obligate Bristol Myers Squibb to acquire any particular amount
of its common stock, and the repurchase program may be suspended or
discontinued at any time at the company’s discretion.
About Bristol Myers Squibb
Company
Bristol Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose
mission is to discover, develop, and deliver innovative medicines
that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more
information about Bristol Myers Squibb, visit us at BMS.com or
follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and
Instagram.
Use of Non-GAAP
Information
Free cash flow is a non-generally accepted accounting principle
(GAAP) financial measure that we use to describe our company’s
performance. This non-GAAP information provides investors with
additional useful information but should not be considered in
isolation or as a substitute for the related GAAP measure.
Moreover, other companies may define free cash flow differently,
which limits the usefulness of this measure for comparisons with
such other companies. We encourage investors to review our
financial statements and publicly filed reports in their entirety
and not to rely on any single financial measure. An explanation of
free cash flow and how we use it is available on our website at
bms.com/investors. Also note that a reconciliation of the
forward-looking free cash flow measure, however, is not provided
due to no reasonably accessible or reliable comparable GAAP measure
and the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying such
measure that are necessary for such reconciliation.
Cautionary Statement Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
regarding, among other things, the timing and amount of cash
dividends and any share repurchases, as well as our expected free
cash flow and financial position in the future. These statements
may be identified by the fact they use words such as “should,”
“could,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “target,” “may,”
“project,” “guidance,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “will” and
other words and terms of similar meaning and expression in
connection with any discussion of future operating or financial
performance, although not all forward-looking statements contain
such terms. All statements that are not statements of historical
facts are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Such
forward-looking statements are based on historical performance and
current expectations and projections about our future financial
results, goals, plans and objectives and involve inherent risks,
assumptions and uncertainties, including internal or external
factors that could delay, divert or change any of them in the next
several years, that are difficult to predict, may be beyond our
control and could cause our future financial results, goals, plans
and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in, or
implied by, the statements. No forward-looking statement can be
guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in this press release should
be evaluated together with the many risks and uncertainties that
affect Bristol Myers Squibb’s business and market, particularly
those identified in the cautionary statement and risk factors
discussion in Bristol Myers Squibb’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 31, 2020, as updated by our subsequent
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and
other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The
forward-looking statements included in this document are made only
as of the date of this document and except as otherwise required by
applicable law, Bristol Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to
publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as
a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances
or otherwise.
corporatefinancial-news
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211213005141/en/
Media: media@bms.com Investors: Nina Goworek,
908-673-9711, nina.goworek@bms.com
Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024