Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) Stock Rating Lowered by Morgan Stanley

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) was downgraded by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $81.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $82.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 7.41% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $69.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Boyd Gaming from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Boyd Gaming from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.20.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

Shares of BYD stock opened at $75.41 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $74.86 and a 200 day moving average of $69.32. Boyd Gaming has a 1 year low of $49.34 and a 1 year 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 expect that Boyd Gaming will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Activity at Boyd Gaming

In other Boyd Gaming news, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.68, for a total transaction of $3,884,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,346,628 shares in the company, valued at approximately $104,606,063.04. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Boyd sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $116,835,980.40. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,660 shares of company stock valued at $5,123,749 over the last ninety days. 27.94% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 80.3% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. Cetera Trust Company N.A lifted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A now owns 3,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 54.9% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 587 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 25,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,643,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. 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.