Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 86,611 Shares of Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD)

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,358,223 shares of the company’s stock after selling 86,611 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 7.19% of Boyd Gaming worth $461,225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BYD. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 36.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Boyd Gaming by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,108,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,680,000 after buying an additional 17,591 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,153,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,611,000 after buying an additional 33,379 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 974,973 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,725,000 after acquiring an additional 3,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 925,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,164,000 after acquiring an additional 16,979 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Boyd Gaming from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Boyd Gaming from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Boyd Gaming currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Boyd Gaming

In other news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.28, for a total value of $84,690.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $365,258.56. The trade was a 18.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,125 shares of company stock worth $5,158,490. Corporate insiders own 21.97% of the company’s stock.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

Shares of BYD opened at $65.73 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $73.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.13. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $49.34 and a twelve month high of $80.50. The firm has a market cap of $5.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.57, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.55.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, analysts forecast that Boyd Gaming Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. 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. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.58%.

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

Boyd Gaming 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.