Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) Director Christine J. Spadafor Sells 1,125 Shares

Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.28, for a total value of $84,690.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,852 shares in the company, valued at $365,258.56. This trade represents a 18.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

Boyd Gaming stock opened at $73.34 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.96. Boyd Gaming Co. has a twelve month low of $49.34 and a twelve month high of $80.50. The company has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 11.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85.

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

Boyd Gaming announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits 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 management believes its stock is undervalued.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Boyd Gaming’s payout ratio is 11.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Boyd Gaming by 80.3% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A raised its position in Boyd Gaming by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A now owns 3,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 54.9% during 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 grew its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 0.9% during 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 currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BYD shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Boyd Gaming from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $82.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.20.

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.