Brokerages Set Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) Price Target at $77.00

Shares of Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $77.00.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BYD shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Boyd Gaming in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Boyd Gaming from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 13th. Finally, Argus upped their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider William S. Boyd sold 40,207 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.53, for a total transaction of $2,634,764.71. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,680,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $634,330,596.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider William S. Boyd sold 40,207 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.53, for a total value of $2,634,764.71. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,680,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $634,330,596.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider William S. Boyd sold 1,914 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total value of $128,238.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,764,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,208,770. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 169,681 shares of company stock valued at $11,379,921. 27.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Boyd Gaming

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Boyd Gaming during the first quarter worth $82,706,000. Ariel Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 63.4% during the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,629,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,965,000 after buying an additional 1,020,515 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 98.1% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,711,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,343,000 after buying an additional 847,797 shares in the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 451.4% during the first quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 967,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,054,000 after buying an additional 792,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Boyd Gaming during the fourth quarter worth $41,625,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.98% of the company’s stock.

Boyd Gaming Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE BYD opened at $64.69 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.47. The company has a market cap of $6.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. Boyd Gaming has a 12-month low of $46.10 and a 12-month high of $73.00.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $916.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $910.59 million. Boyd Gaming had a net margin of 19.61% and a return on equity of 41.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.48 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Boyd Gaming will post 6.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 15th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. Boyd Gaming’s payout ratio is 9.26%.

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. It operates through three segments: Las Vegas Locals, Downtown Las Vegas, and Midwest & South.