Bailard Inc. Purchases 9,469 Shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY)

Bailard Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 66.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,693 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,469 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Best Buy were worth $1,997,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Best Buy by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,377,763 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $284,712,000 after purchasing an additional 490,801 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Best Buy by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,863,291 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $241,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024,824 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Best Buy by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,791,561 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $218,527,000 after acquiring an additional 107,926 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Best Buy during the 4th quarter valued at $165,164,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Best Buy by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 1,827,468 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $149,907,000 after purchasing an additional 69,334 shares in the last quarter. 80.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Best Buy from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Best Buy in a research note on Friday. UBS Group upgraded shares of Best Buy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Best Buy from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Best Buy from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.87.

Insider Activity

In other Best Buy news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 691,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.46, for a total value of $61,154,874.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 14,911,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,319,073,501.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 691,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.46, for a total transaction of $61,154,874.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 14,911,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,319,073,501.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jason J. Bonfig sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.02, for a total value of $290,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,210,276.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,383,370 shares of company stock valued at $288,293,276. 0.59% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Best Buy Stock Up 0.8 %

BBY stock opened at $88.89 on Tuesday. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.30 and a twelve month high of $93.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $19.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $85.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.64.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The technology retailer reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $8.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.96 billion. Best Buy had a return on equity of 47.56% and a net margin of 2.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.11 EPS for the current year.

Best Buy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 20th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 20th. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.85%.

Best Buy Company Profile

Best Buy Co, Inc engages in the retail of technology products in the United States, Canada, and international. Its stores provide computing and mobile phone products, such as desktops, notebooks, and peripherals; mobile phones comprising related mobile network carrier commissions; networking products; tablets covering e-readers; smartwatches; and consumer electronics consisting of digital imaging, health and fitness products, portable audio comprising headphones and portable speakers, and smart home products, as well as home theaters, which includes home theater accessories, soundbars, and televisions.