Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $101.72.

BBY has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Best Buy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Best Buy from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Best Buy from $95.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Best Buy from $109.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price target on shares of Best Buy from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Best Buy news, CFO Matthew M. Bilunas sold 69,166 shares of Best Buy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.46, for a total value of $6,049,258.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 92,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,052,442.20. The trade was a 42.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Best Buy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Best Buy by 4.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,164,953 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $636,840,000 after acquiring an additional 241,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Best Buy by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,852,980 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $499,954,000 after acquiring an additional 120,185 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Best Buy by 1.8% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,440,215 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $355,374,000 after acquiring an additional 62,452 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Best Buy by 3.3% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,388,151 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $143,396,000 after acquiring an additional 44,693 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Best Buy by 55.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,379,195 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $116,252,000 after acquiring an additional 491,781 shares during the period. 80.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Best Buy Stock Up 0.6 %

BBY opened at $85.21 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $18.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.56, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.43. Best Buy has a twelve month low of $69.29 and a twelve month high of $103.71. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $86.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.20.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The technology retailer reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $9.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.63 billion. Best Buy had a net margin of 3.01% and a return on equity of 45.93%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Best Buy will post 6.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Best Buy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.41%. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.27%.

Best Buy Company Profile

Best Buy Co, Inc engages in the retail of technology products in the United States, Canada, and international. Its stores provide computing and mobile phone products, such as desktops, notebooks, and peripherals; mobile phones comprising related mobile network carrier commissions; networking products; tablets covering e-readers; smartwatches; and consumer electronics consisting of digital imaging, health and fitness products, portable audio comprising headphones and portable speakers, and smart home products, as well as home theaters, which includes home theater accessories, soundbars, and televisions.