Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Increases Position in Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its stake in shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 14.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 54,681 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,887 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Best Buy were worth $4,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BBY. Rise Advisors LLC grew its stake in Best Buy by 69.5% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 322 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Best Buy during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 190.9% during the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 320 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Best Buy by 67.1% in the 1st quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 376 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Best Buy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Best Buy

In related news, EVP Jason J. Bonfig sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 50,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,210,276.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 691,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were 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 owns 14,911,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,319,073,501.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 transaction of $290,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,714 shares in the company, valued at $4,210,276.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,383,370 shares of company stock valued at $122,233,276 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BBY has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Best Buy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on Best Buy from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Best Buy from $95.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on Best Buy from $81.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Best Buy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.56.

Best Buy Price Performance

NYSE:BBY opened at $97.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.30 and a 52 week high of $103.71. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $90.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.99 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.46.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The technology retailer reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.23 billion. Best Buy had a return on equity of 47.19% and a net margin of 2.96%. Best Buy’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 19th. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.