New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 12,689 Shares of Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD)

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its holdings in Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 78,785 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,689 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.09% of Boyd Gaming worth $5,715,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BYD. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Boyd Gaming by 80.3% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Boyd Gaming by 54.9% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 587 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its position in Boyd Gaming by 150.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 873 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Boyd Gaming by 921.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 889 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BYD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $69.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Boyd Gaming from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Boyd Gaming from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total value of $49,948.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $452,339.36. This represents a 9.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.68, for a total value of $3,884,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 1,346,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $104,606,063.04. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 65,660 shares of company stock worth $5,123,749. 27.94% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

Boyd Gaming stock opened at $79.32 on Friday. Boyd Gaming Co. has a 12-month low of $49.34 and a 12-month high of $80.50. The company has a market capitalization of $7.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $74.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.69.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 35.97% and a net margin of 14.70%. On average, research analysts forecast that Boyd Gaming Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.93%.

Boyd Gaming declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management 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.