Globeflex Capital L P Takes $725,000 Position in Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD)

Globeflex Capital L P purchased a new stake in shares of Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $725,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 80.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Boyd Gaming by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 460 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Boyd Gaming by 54.9% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 587 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in Boyd Gaming by 150.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 873 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Boyd Gaming in the 4th quarter worth about $67,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Boyd Gaming

In other news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.28, for a total transaction of $84,690.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $365,258.56. This represents a 18.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.68, for a total value of $3,884,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 1,346,628 shares in the company, valued at $104,606,063.04. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,125 shares of company stock worth $5,158,490 over the last three months. 27.94% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Boyd Gaming Stock Up 3.8 %

BYD opened at $68.48 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $74.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.33. Boyd Gaming Co. has a twelve month low of $49.34 and a twelve month 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 firm has a market cap of $5.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.55.

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

Boyd Gaming declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. Boyd Gaming’s payout ratio is 11.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BYD. Barclays lifted their price target on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley cut Boyd Gaming from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut Boyd Gaming from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Boyd Gaming currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.20.

Boyd Gaming 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.