Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other research firms have also commented on BYD. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Boyd Gaming from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $73.00 to $92.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.00.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

Shares of BYD opened at $76.86 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The stock has a market cap of $6.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.36, a P/E/G ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 1.54. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $74.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.84. Boyd Gaming has a 52 week low of $49.34 and a 52 week high of $80.50.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.21. Boyd Gaming had a return on equity of 35.97% and a net margin of 14.70%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Boyd Gaming will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.93%.

Boyd Gaming announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.68, for a total value of $3,884,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,346,628 shares in the company, valued at $104,606,063.04. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Boyd sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total transaction of $1,189,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,472,970 shares in the company, valued at $116,835,980.40. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 65,660 shares of company stock worth $5,123,749. 27.94% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in Boyd Gaming by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 5,265,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,929,000 after acquiring an additional 21,616 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in Boyd Gaming by 36.9% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,955,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,185,000 after buying an additional 1,065,887 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Boyd Gaming by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,108,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,680,000 after buying an additional 17,591 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Boyd Gaming by 51.7% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,296,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,074,000 after acquiring an additional 441,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,153,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,611,000 after acquiring an additional 33,379 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

About Boyd Gaming

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.