Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.18 Per Share

Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. This is an increase from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17.

Boyd Gaming has a payout ratio of 9.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Boyd Gaming to earn $7.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.6%.

Boyd Gaming Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:BYD traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $79.32. The stock had a trading volume of 640,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 956,976. The business’s 50 day moving average is $74.64 and its 200 day moving average is $68.61. Boyd Gaming has a fifty-two week low of $49.34 and a fifty-two week high of $80.50. The stock has a market cap of $7.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.54. 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 (NYSE:BYD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.21. Boyd Gaming had a return on equity of 35.97% and a net margin of 14.70%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Boyd Gaming will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BYD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a report on Friday, February 7th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Boyd Gaming from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Boyd Gaming has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.00.

Boyd Gaming declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Boyd Gaming

In related news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total value of $49,948.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,977 shares in the company, valued at $452,339.36. This trade represents a 9.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Keith Smith sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total value of $2,164,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,101,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,451,724.30. This represents a 2.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 80,660 shares of company stock valued at $6,098,449 in the last three months. 27.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.