Quantbot Technologies LP Invests $1.97 Million in Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD)

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 27,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,968,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 36.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,955,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,887 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,108,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,680,000 after acquiring an additional 17,591 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,153,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,611,000 after acquiring an additional 33,379 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 974,973 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,725,000 after acquiring an additional 3,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 925,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,164,000 after acquiring an additional 16,979 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BYD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley cut 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 report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $73.00 to $92.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Boyd Gaming currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Boyd Gaming

In other news, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.68, for a total transaction of $3,884,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director William R. Boyd sold 15,000 shares of the business’s 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 owns 1,472,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,835,980.40. This represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,125 shares of company stock valued at $5,158,490 in the last three months. 27.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Boyd Gaming Trading Up 0.5 %

Boyd Gaming stock opened at $68.09 on Monday. Boyd Gaming Co. has a 1 year low of $49.34 and a 1 year 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 $5.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $74.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.77.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Boyd Gaming Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is an increase from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Boyd Gaming’s payout ratio is 11.58%.

Boyd Gaming declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.