Best Buy Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BBY)

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 67,540 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 286% compared to the average daily volume of 17,478 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BBY. Barclays increased their price objective on Best Buy from $81.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Best Buy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Best Buy from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $114.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Best Buy in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Best Buy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Best Buy news, EVP Jason J. Bonfig sold 3,500 shares of Best Buy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.02, for a total transaction of $290,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,210,276.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Best Buy news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 88,542 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.25, for a total transaction of $7,813,831.50. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 13,602,853 shares in the company, valued at $1,200,451,777.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jason J. Bonfig sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were 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 owns 50,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,210,276.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,383,370 shares of company stock worth $122,233,276 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Best Buy in the 4th quarter valued at $165,164,000. Ninety One UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Best Buy during the second quarter worth about $121,325,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Best Buy by 4,337.6% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,099,495 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $92,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074,718 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Best Buy by 55.7% in the second 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 purchasing an additional 1,024,824 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Best Buy by 11,586.7% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 686,128 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $53,710,000 after purchasing an additional 680,257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Best Buy Stock Performance

Shares of BBY stock traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $99.05. 1,821,117 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,099,762. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 1.01. Best Buy has a 12-month low of $62.30 and a 12-month high of $103.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.46.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The technology retailer reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.23 billion. Best Buy had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 47.19%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Best Buy will post 6.26 EPS for the current year.

Best Buy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. Best Buy’s payout ratio is 65.85%.

About Best Buy

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.