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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.
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