Brokerages Set Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) PT at $95.00

Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $95.00.

BYD has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Boyd Gaming from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus upgraded Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $73.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Friday, January 3rd.

Insider Activity at Boyd Gaming

In other news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.28, for a total value of $84,690.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,852 shares in the company, valued at $365,258.56. This represents a 18.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.68, for a total transaction of $3,884,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,346,628 shares in the company, valued at $104,606,063.04. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,125 shares of company stock valued at $5,158,490. 27.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Boyd Gaming

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BYD. GAMMA Investing LLC increased 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 worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Boyd Gaming by 80.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 393 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A raised its stake in Boyd Gaming by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A now owns 3,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its stake in Boyd Gaming by 91.0% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 573 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

Shares of BYD stock opened at $64.55 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $70.85 and a 200 day moving average of $71.10. Boyd Gaming has a 1 year low of $49.34 and a 1 year high of $80.50. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $5.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.31.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. This is a boost from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Boyd Gaming’s payout ratio is currently 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.