Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) Increases Dividend to $0.18 Per Share

Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a 5.9% increase from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17.

Boyd Gaming has a payout ratio of 10.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Boyd Gaming to earn $7.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.1%.

Boyd Gaming Trading Up 3.8 %

NYSE BYD opened at $68.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The firm has a market cap of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of 11.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $74.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.33. Boyd Gaming has a 52 week low of $49.34 and a 52 week high of $80.50.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Boyd Gaming will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Boyd Gaming news, Director William R. Boyd sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total transaction of $1,189,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,472,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $116,835,980.40. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.28, for a total transaction of $84,690.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $365,258.56. The trade was 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 have sold 66,125 shares of company stock valued at $5,158,490. Corporate insiders own 27.94% of the company’s stock.

Boyd Gaming declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BYD. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Boyd Gaming from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $82.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Boyd Gaming from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.20.

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.