Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson Sells 73,130 Shares

Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 73,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.23, for a total transaction of $4,404,619.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,423,498 shares in the company, valued at $85,737,284.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Boyd Gaming Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:BYD opened at $60.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.78, a P/E/G ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 1.58. Boyd Gaming Co. has a 1 year low of $49.34 and a 1 year high of $68.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.76.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.09. Boyd Gaming had a return on equity of 34.08% and a net margin of 13.32%. The business had revenue of $967.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $909.49 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Boyd Gaming Co. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, May 13th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 9.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Boyd Gaming Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.21%.

Institutional Trading of Boyd Gaming

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BYD. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 61.3% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,025 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 61.5% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 50,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,761,000 after purchasing an additional 19,088 shares during the period. Long Pond Capital LP purchased a new stake in Boyd Gaming during the second quarter worth about $20,440,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Boyd Gaming by 36.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 1,749 shares during the period. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC increased its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 12.5% in the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 3,031,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,046,000 after buying an additional 335,984 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on BYD. Raymond James assumed coverage on Boyd Gaming in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Boyd Gaming from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Macquarie decreased their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $72.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Boyd Gaming presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.08.

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.