Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Buys 5,540 Shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 102,226 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,540 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Best Buy were worth $8,771,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BBY. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Best Buy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,982,608 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $1,971,908,000 after acquiring an additional 191,161 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Best Buy by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,560,368 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $562,880,000 after purchasing an additional 395,415 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Best Buy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $514,483,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Best Buy by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,092,820 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $436,210,000 after buying an additional 239,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Best Buy by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,824,425 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $328,136,000 after buying an additional 459,353 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Best Buy

In other news, CEO Corie S. Barry bought 13,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $72.92 per share, for a total transaction of $984,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 378,780 shares in the company, valued at $27,620,637.60. The trade was a 3.70 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew M. Bilunas sold 51,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.20, for a total value of $3,784,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 55,856 shares in the company, valued at $4,144,515.20. This trade represents a 47.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,355 shares of company stock valued at $5,767,213 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BBY has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Best Buy in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Best Buy from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Best Buy from $106.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (down previously from $93.00) on shares of Best Buy in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.28.

Best Buy Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of BBY opened at $60.47 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.35. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a one year low of $54.99 and a one year high of $103.71. The company has a market capitalization of $12.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.34, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The technology retailer reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $13.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.69 billion. Best Buy had a return on equity of 45.93% and a net margin of 3.01%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.72 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.28%. This is a positive change from Best Buy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 88.99%.

About Best Buy

Best Buy Co, Inc engages in the retail of technology products in the United States, Canada, and international. Its stores provide computing and mobile phone products, such as desktops, notebooks, and peripherals; mobile phones comprising related mobile network carrier commissions; networking products; tablets covering e-readers; smartwatches; and consumer electronics consisting of digital imaging, health and fitness products, portable audio comprising headphones and portable speakers, and smart home products, as well as home theaters, which includes home theater accessories, soundbars, and televisions.