Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) Rating Lowered to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Argus upgraded Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Truist Financial lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Boyd Gaming has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.00.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

NYSE:BYD traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $77.69. 1,279,606 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 986,278. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.82. Boyd Gaming has a fifty-two week low of $49.34 and a fifty-two week high of $80.50.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last released its quarterly earnings results 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, equities analysts anticipate that Boyd Gaming will post 6.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 660 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $452,339.36. The trade was a 9.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Keith Smith sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.77, for a total value of $2,153,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,131,202 shares in the company, valued at $81,186,367.54. This represents a 2.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 100,660 shares of company stock valued at $7,307,149. 27.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 274.2% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 112,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,143,000 after purchasing an additional 82,258 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Boyd Gaming in the 4th quarter valued at about $674,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 439,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,849,000 after purchasing an additional 28,038 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Boyd Gaming in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,968,000. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,065,887 shares during the period. 76.81% of the stock is 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.