Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) Shares Bought by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 26.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,075 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,785 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Best Buy were worth $10,045,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BBY. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Best Buy during the 4th quarter worth $514,483,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Best Buy by 563.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 592,460 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $50,643,000 after acquiring an additional 503,204 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of Best Buy by 817.4% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 537,886 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $55,564,000 after acquiring an additional 479,256 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,824,425 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $328,136,000 after acquiring an additional 459,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,560,368 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $562,880,000 after acquiring an additional 395,415 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Best Buy

In other Best Buy news, CFO Matthew M. Bilunas sold 51,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.20, for a total transaction of $3,784,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 55,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,144,515.20. This represents a 47.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Todd G. Hartman sold 4,893 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.65, for a total value of $355,476.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,348,048. This represents a 13.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 78,355 shares of company stock valued at $5,767,213. 0.59% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BBY has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Best Buy from $106.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. DA Davidson cut their target price on Best Buy from $117.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Best Buy from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Best Buy from $95.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.22.

Best Buy Price Performance

NYSE:BBY opened at $60.28 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $81.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.32. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.34 and a 1-year high of $103.71. The firm has a market cap of $12.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.30, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The technology retailer reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $13.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 previous year, the business earned $2.72 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.18 EPS for the current year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is a positive change from Best Buy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.30%. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.99%.

Best Buy Company Profile

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.