Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on BYD. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Boyd Gaming from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays upped their target price on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.00.

Boyd Gaming Price Performance

Boyd Gaming stock opened at $78.11 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The company has a market capitalization of $6.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56, a PEG ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 1.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $74.33 and its 200-day moving average is $68.00. Boyd Gaming has a 12 month low of $49.34 and a 12 month high of $80.50.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 expect that Boyd Gaming will post 6.57 EPS for the current year.

Boyd Gaming Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Boyd Gaming’s payout ratio is 10.93%.

Boyd Gaming announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Boyd Gaming

In related news, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 50,000 shares of the 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 represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total value of $49,948.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $452,339.36. The trade was a 9.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,660 shares of company stock worth $8,251,549 over the last three months. Company insiders own 27.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Boyd Gaming

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 47,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,062,000 after acquiring an additional 9,565 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 11,891.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 62,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 61,599 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Boyd Gaming during the 3rd quarter worth about $7,101,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 201.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 49,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,229,000 after purchasing an additional 33,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 460 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. 76.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.