Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) Receives $91.64 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $91.67.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BYD. Mizuho restated an “outperform” rating and set a $79.00 price objective (up from $78.00) on shares of Boyd Gaming in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Boyd Gaming from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Boyd Gaming news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total transaction of $49,948.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,977 shares in the company, valued at $452,339.36. The trade was a 9.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Boyd sold 25,155 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.35, for a total transaction of $1,744,499.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,487,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $103,190,719.50. This represents a 1.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 147,364 shares of company stock worth $10,590,893 over the last three months. 28.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Boyd Gaming

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 25.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 47,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,062,000 after acquiring an additional 9,565 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 497,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,403,000 after purchasing an additional 98,508 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 11,891.7% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 62,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,016,000 after buying an additional 61,599 shares during the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 3,031,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,046,000 after buying an additional 335,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Boyd Gaming during the third quarter worth about $7,101,000. 76.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

NYSE:BYD opened at $72.33 on Wednesday. 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 $6.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $72.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.53. Boyd Gaming has a twelve month low of $49.34 and a twelve month high of $76.73.

Boyd Gaming Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.98%.

Boyd Gaming announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.