Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) Raised to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.00.

Boyd Gaming Price Performance

BYD opened at $79.32 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $74.73 and a 200-day moving average of $68.69. Boyd Gaming has a 1-year low of $49.34 and a 1-year high of $80.50. The company has a market capitalization of $7.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts expect that Boyd Gaming will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity

In other Boyd Gaming news, Director William R. Boyd sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total value of $1,189,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,472,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,835,980.40. This represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total value of $49,948.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $452,339.36. This trade represents a 9.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,660 shares of company stock worth $5,123,749 over the last 90 days. 27.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Boyd Gaming

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BYD. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 80.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 393 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Cetera Trust Company N.A increased its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A now owns 3,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 54.9% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 587 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Boyd Gaming by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 25,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,643,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. 76.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.