Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $95.20.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BYD shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Argus upgraded shares of Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Boyd Gaming from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $81.00 in a report on Monday. Mizuho raised their price target on Boyd Gaming from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Boyd Gaming

In other Boyd Gaming news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total transaction of $49,948.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,977 shares in the company, valued at $452,339.36. This represents a 9.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 50,000 shares of Boyd Gaming stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 1,346,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $104,606,063.04. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,660 shares of company stock worth $5,123,749 over the last 90 days. 27.94% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Boyd Gaming

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BYD. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 185,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,472,000 after purchasing an additional 1,797 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 25.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 47,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,062,000 after buying an additional 9,565 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 61,599 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Boyd Gaming during the 3rd quarter valued at $7,101,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its position in Boyd Gaming by 201.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 49,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,229,000 after acquiring an additional 33,374 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BYD opened at $75.91 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. Boyd Gaming has a 12-month low of $49.34 and a 12-month high of $80.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $74.96 and a 200 day moving average of $69.37.

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

Boyd Gaming announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 0.95%. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.58%.

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.