Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) by 13.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,320 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 523 shares during the quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Boyd Gaming were worth $313,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BYD. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Boyd Gaming by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 49,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,735,000 after acquiring an additional 8,591 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Boyd Gaming by 4.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 473,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,101,000 after purchasing an additional 19,938 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 229.1% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 28,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,547,000 after purchasing an additional 19,544 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 36.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,749 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC grew its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 61.5% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 50,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,761,000 after purchasing an additional 19,088 shares in the last quarter. 76.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on BYD. Argus raised shares of Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Boyd Gaming from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho reissued 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. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Keith Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.49, for a total transaction of $2,939,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,161,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $85,336,734.98. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 660 shares of the firm’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 value of $49,948.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $452,339.36. This represents a 9.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 122,209 shares of company stock valued at $8,846,394 over the last quarter. 27.94% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

Shares of Boyd Gaming stock opened at $76.61 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Boyd Gaming Co. has a 12 month low of $49.34 and a 12 month high of $77.51.

Boyd Gaming Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.98%.

Boyd Gaming announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board 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.