Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) Upgraded at Susquehanna

Susquehanna upgraded shares of Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) from a neutral rating to a positive rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $77.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $79.00.

BYD has been the subject of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Boyd Gaming from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $82.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Argus upgraded shares of Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Boyd Gaming from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $73.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Boyd Gaming has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.20.

Boyd Gaming Trading Up 3.8 %

NYSE:BYD opened at $68.48 on Wednesday. Boyd Gaming has a 12 month low of $49.34 and a 12 month high of $80.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The company has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.01, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.55.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Boyd Gaming will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. This is an increase from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio is 11.58%.

Boyd Gaming announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Boyd Gaming

In other news, Director William R. Boyd sold 15,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,472,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $116,835,980.40. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.28, for a total transaction of $84,690.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $365,258.56. This represents a 18.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,125 shares of company stock valued at $5,158,490 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 27.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Boyd Gaming

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in Boyd Gaming by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 5,265,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,929,000 after acquiring an additional 21,616 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in Boyd Gaming by 36.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,955,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,887 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Boyd Gaming by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,108,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,680,000 after acquiring an additional 17,591 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Boyd Gaming by 51.7% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,296,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,074,000 after acquiring an additional 441,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Boyd Gaming by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,153,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,611,000 after acquiring an additional 33,379 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

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.