Arizona State Retirement System Lowers Holdings in Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD)

Arizona State Retirement System decreased its holdings in Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,973 shares of the company’s stock after selling 517 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Boyd Gaming were worth $1,449,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings 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 during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 80.3% in the 4th 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 period. Cetera Trust Company N.A raised its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 6.2% in the 4th 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. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 54.9% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 587 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,346,628 shares in the company, valued at $104,606,063.04. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.28, for a total value of $84,690.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $365,258.56. This represents a 18.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 66,125 shares of company stock worth $5,158,490. Company insiders own 27.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho upped their price target on Boyd Gaming from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays increased their target price on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $73.00 to $92.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.20.

Boyd Gaming Price Performance

NYSE:BYD opened at $67.12 on Thursday. Boyd Gaming Co. has a one year low of $49.34 and a one year high of $80.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $74.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.30.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.21. Boyd Gaming had a return on equity of 35.97% and a net margin of 14.70%. Equities research analysts expect that Boyd Gaming Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. This is a positive change from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.58%.

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.