Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) Short Interest Update

Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,270,000 shares, a drop of 15.7% from the July 15th total of 3,880,000 shares. Currently, 4.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BYD. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $337.00 to $308.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Macquarie cut their price target on Boyd Gaming from $72.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Boyd Gaming from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Boyd Gaming from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Boyd Gaming news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 1,874 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.38, for a total value of $100,034.12. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,338 shares in the company, valued at approximately $124,802.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 27.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Boyd Gaming

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BYD. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its stake in Boyd Gaming by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 4,747,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216,121 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Boyd Gaming in the fourth quarter worth about $44,773,000. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,756,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,638,000 after buying an additional 628,512 shares in the last quarter. Long Pond Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Boyd Gaming during the second quarter valued at approximately $20,440,000. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 12.5% during the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 3,031,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,046,000 after acquiring an additional 335,984 shares in the last quarter. 76.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Boyd Gaming Price Performance

Boyd Gaming stock traded up $0.56 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $58.15. 1,138,110 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 963,634. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $56.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.09. Boyd Gaming has a 52-week low of $49.34 and a 52-week high of $68.46. The company has a market cap of $5.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.44, a PEG ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $967.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $909.49 million. Boyd Gaming had a return on equity of 34.08% and a net margin of 13.32%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Boyd Gaming will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Boyd Gaming announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, May 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 9.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.