Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.21, Zacks reports. Boyd Gaming had a return on equity of 35.10% and a net margin of 13.01%.

Boyd Gaming Price Performance

Shares of BYD stock traded down $1.94 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $76.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 647,482 shares, compared to its average volume of 913,500. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. Boyd Gaming has a fifty-two week low of $49.34 and a fifty-two week high of $80.50. The company has a market capitalization of $6.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.60, a PEG ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.37.

Boyd Gaming Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BYD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Boyd Gaming from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a report on Friday. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Boyd Gaming from $69.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Boyd Gaming from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.73.

Boyd Gaming declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total value of $49,948.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $452,339.36. This represents a 9.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Keith Smith sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.77, for a total value of $2,153,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,131,202 shares in the company, valued at $81,186,367.54. This represents a 2.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 100,660 shares of company stock worth $7,307,149 in the last ninety days. 28.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Boyd Gaming Company Profile

Boyd Gaming Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a multi-jurisdictional gaming company in Nevada, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The company operates through Las Vegas Locals, Downtown Las Vegas, Midwest & South, and Online segments.