Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.18 Per Share

Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. This is a positive change from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17.

Boyd Gaming has a dividend payout ratio of 9.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Boyd Gaming to earn $7.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.6%.

Boyd Gaming Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Boyd Gaming stock opened at $79.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 1.54. Boyd Gaming has a fifty-two week low of $49.34 and a fifty-two week high of $80.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $74.73 and a 200 day moving average of $68.69.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Boyd Gaming will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Boyd Gaming declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BYD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price target on Boyd Gaming from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Susquehanna raised 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, February 4th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Seven investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Boyd Gaming

In other Boyd Gaming news, Director William R. Boyd sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,835,980.40. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total value of $49,948.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $452,339.36. The trade was a 9.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,660 shares of company stock worth $5,123,749 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 27.94% 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.