Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) ended Monday’s regular session on a modestly stronger note, then held near flat in after-hours trading as investors continued to weigh a fast-evolving U.S. drug-pricing landscape, BMS’s Eliquis-focused policy commitments, and a fresh dividend hike headed into 2026.
Below is what’s moving BMY after the bell on December 22, 2025, and the key items investors will be watching into Tuesday’s open (Dec. 23)—including the latest headlines, Wall Street forecasts, and the open questions that could drive the next leg up or down.
BMY stock after the bell: where shares closed and how after-hours trading looks
Regular session (NYSE close):
- Close:$54.66
- Day change:+0.47 (+0.87%)
- Open / High / Low:$54.14 / $54.82 / $54.04
- Volume:~25.1 million shares
- 52-week range:$42.52 to $63.33 [1]
After-hours (extended trading):
- MarketWatch’s delayed after-hours quote had BMY around $54.75 (about +0.16%) in early evening trading. [2]
- Data from Public.com’s after-hours history also shows BMY around $54.74 after the close (about +0.15% vs. $54.66). [3]
Takeaway: No major “gap signal” has emerged after hours—but the news cycle around U.S. pricing policy can turn quickly, and extended-hours pricing can be noisy due to thinner liquidity.
The headline still driving the conversation: BMS and the White House drug-pricing deal
While today’s tape action was relatively contained, the dominant fundamental storyline remains the Trump administration’s drug-pricing agreements announced late last week—deals that involve Bristol-Myers Squibb and several other major pharmaceutical companies.
What Bristol-Myers Squibb agreed to do
In BMS’s own corporate release describing the agreement, the company said it will:
- Provide Eliquis (apixaban) at no cost to Medicaid starting Jan. 1, 2026
- Donate more than seven tons of Eliquis active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) to support the U.S. Strategic Active Ingredient Reserve
- Support direct-to-patient access for certain medicines for cash-paying patients at discounts of about 80% off list price (including Sotyktu, Zeposia, Reyataz, Baraclude, and Orencia SC)
- Commit to launching new medicines with a “more balanced pricing approach” across developed nations [4]
BMS also stated the agreement provides three years of tariff relief and that the company “will not be subject to future pricing mandates,” while noting that specific terms remain confidential. [5]
The broader White House framework
Coverage of the White House announcement emphasized that:
- Multiple drugmakers agreed to reduce prices (particularly affecting Medicaid and direct-to-consumer channels). [6]
- Reuters reported the broader package includes price reductions (in some cases up to ~70%), direct-to-consumer distribution via a government-backed platform, and a three-year tariff reprieve—with Bristol-Myers specifically committing to provide Eliquis free to Medicaid. [7]
Why this matters for BMY investors: Eliquis is one of BMS’s most important medicines, and the agreement is unusually specific about Eliquis access and pricing. BMS also highlighted Eliquis’s scale—stating it’s been prescribed to more than 15 million Americans since launch. [8]
The key investor question: does “policy certainty” offset the revenue giveback?
Markets are still trying to put a price on the trade-off embedded in these agreements:
Potential positives the market may be pricing in
- Reduced policy tail risk: A negotiated framework (plus tariff relief and stated protection from “future pricing mandates,” per BMS) may be viewed as preferable to open-ended policy threats. [9]
- Clarity into 2026: With Medicaid changes tied to Jan. 1, 2026, investors can at least anchor timing—even if the financial impact remains unclear because terms are confidential. [10]
- Supply chain narrative: The API donation and reserve build-out may play well politically and could reduce future disruption risk (though it’s still a cost). [11]
Potential negatives the market may still be discounting
- Eliquis economics are central: “Free to Medicaid” is a big headline. The actual P&L impact depends on Medicaid volume mix, net pricing, and how the deal interacts with rebates and other channels—none of which are fully detailed publicly. [12]
- Knock-on effects: Reuters described the overall initiative as pushing “most-favored-nation” style pricing principles for new launches across markets, which could pressure future pricing power across the industry. [13]
This is why BMY can trade calmly day-to-day while still being highly sensitive to incremental headlines: investors have the framework, but not the full math.
Dividend boost: another supportive pillar for BMY into 2026
In a separate corporate update earlier this month, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced a dividend increase—a factor that tends to matter more during uncertain policy or pipeline periods because it reinforces the “shareholder return” component of the story.
BMS said its board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.63 per share (up from $0.62), payable Feb. 2, 2026, to shareholders of record as of Jan. 2, 2026. The company also described this as its 17th consecutive year of dividend increases and 94th consecutive year of paying a dividend. [14]
For investors looking at BMY as an income name, that matters—especially in a tape where policy headlines can whipsaw sentiment.
Where Wall Street’s forecasts stand: wide dispersion, “show-me” dynamics
One of the clearest signals in current coverage is that analysts don’t agree on what BMY is worth right now—which can increase volatility when new data hits.
Consensus price targets
MarketBeat’s aggregated data recently showed:
- Average (consensus) 12-month price target: about $54.62
- High / low targets: roughly $68 at the high end and $37 at the low end [15]
That consensus is basically “around the current price,” which helps explain why BMY can drift while catalysts build.
Recent notable calls
- Bank of America upgraded BMY to Buy and raised its price target to $61 from $52 (per MarketBeat’s summary of the note). [16]
- Guggenheim upgraded BMY to Buy with a $62 target (TipRanks summary). [17]
- Morgan Stanley maintained an Underweight stance while lifting its target to $37 from $36 (TipRanks summary). [18]
How to read the dispersion: bulls are leaning on valuation and pipeline optionality; bears are effectively saying BMS must prove it can navigate policy shifts and execute through looming product-cycle challenges.
Fundamentals checkpoint: what BMS last told investors about 2025 performance
Even though earnings are not “today’s” news, the last official guidance sets the baseline for how investors model everything else—including how much room BMS has to absorb policy concessions.
In its Q3 2025 results release (Oct. 30, 2025), BMS reported:
- Third-quarter revenue:$12.2 billion
- Non-GAAP EPS:$1.63
- Raised full-year 2025 non-GAAP revenue guidance to ~$47.5 billion to $48.0 billion
- Updated full-year 2025 non-GAAP EPS guidance to $6.40 to $6.60 [19]
Those guidance ranges are the “floor” most investors will measure policy impacts against—especially as 2026 approaches.
What to watch before the market opens tomorrow (Dec. 23)
If you’re tracking BMY into Tuesday, the biggest “know before the bell” items cluster into three buckets: headlines, positioning, and levels.
1) Headline risk: policy follow-through and clarifications
This story can move on small details. Key watch items overnight and premarket include:
- Any additional White House guidance on implementation timing, scope, or enforcement mechanics
- Any added clarity on how “free to Medicaid” will function operationally and how it intersects with existing rebate structures
- Any Pfizer-related commentary (Eliquis is marketed via the BMS–Pfizer alliance, per BMS’s release) [20]
2) After-hours calm can be misleading
BMY’s after-hours trade has been close to flat—roughly $54.74–$54.75 versus the $54.66 close. [21]
But what matters for the open is whether premarket volume comes in with a directional bias—especially during a holiday-adjacent week when liquidity can thin out.
3) “Levels that matter” (practical, not predictive)
Without turning this into a trading call, a few reference points tend to shape short-term narratives:
- 52-week high: ~$63.33 (a reminder of where the stock traded before a tougher stretch of 2025 headlines) [22]
- Recent close zone: mid-$54 area, where BMY has now put in multiple closes this month
- 52-week low: ~$42.52, a level that becomes psychologically important if sentiment deteriorates again [23]
Risks and open questions investors are still debating tonight
Even with BMY stabilizing into the close, the market’s longer-running debate hasn’t disappeared:
- Revenue durability vs. concessions: Investors will keep asking how BMS defends cash flows while making high-profile access commitments around a key product. [24]
- Pipeline execution pressure: Recent 2025 clinical-trial setbacks across pharma have made the market less forgiving—especially for large-cap names priced for steady, dividend-supported returns. (Recent coverage has highlighted BMS trial disappointments earlier in 2025 and the need for pipeline wins.) [25]
- Visibility: BMS explicitly said key terms are confidential, which means modeling uncertainty persists until management offers more quantified commentary. [26]
Bottom line for BMY stock after hours
Bristol-Myers Squibb stock closed at $54.66 on Dec. 22 and traded near-flat after hours—a sign the market is not treating tonight as an immediate “repricing” event. [27]
But the bigger picture is that BMY is sitting at the intersection of:
- Policy change (drug pricing/access commitments tied to 2026) [28]
- Shareholder return support (a higher dividend into 2026) [29]
- A split analyst community with targets ranging from the high $30s to the low $60s [30]
Going into Tuesday’s open, the most important “tell” won’t be what BMY did in thin after-hours trading—it’ll be whether fresh policy details or new analyst commentary changes the market’s assumptions about the Eliquis economics and the longer-term pricing framework.
This article is informational and reflects publicly available reporting and company statements; it is not investment advice.
References
1. investors.bms.com, 2. www.marketwatch.com, 3. public.com, 4. news.bms.com, 5. news.bms.com, 6. apnews.com, 7. www.reuters.com, 8. news.bms.com, 9. news.bms.com, 10. news.bms.com, 11. news.bms.com, 12. news.bms.com, 13. www.reuters.com, 14. news.bms.com, 15. www.marketbeat.com, 16. www.marketbeat.com, 17. www.tipranks.com, 18. www.tipranks.com, 19. www.bms.com, 20. news.bms.com, 21. public.com, 22. investors.bms.com, 23. investors.bms.com, 24. news.bms.com, 25. www.barrons.com, 26. news.bms.com, 27. investors.bms.com, 28. news.bms.com, 29. news.bms.com, 30. www.marketbeat.com
