Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 27,929 Shares of Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 685,096 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,929 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.78% of Boyd Gaming worth $49,697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Boyd Gaming in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $241,000. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 21.0% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 921.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 889 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $817,000 after buying an additional 2,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 1,125 shares of Boyd Gaming stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.28, for a total value of $84,690.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $365,258.56. This trade represents a 18.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 50,000 shares of Boyd Gaming stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 1,346,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $104,606,063.04. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,785 shares of company stock valued at $5,208,439 over the last quarter. 27.94% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

NYSE BYD opened at $73.34 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 11.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.54. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.96. Boyd Gaming Co. has a 1-year low of $49.34 and a 1-year high of $80.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Boyd Gaming Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a boost from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BYD shares. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Argus upgraded Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley cut Boyd Gaming from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $81.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $73.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on Boyd Gaming from $69.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Boyd Gaming has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.20.

Boyd Gaming Profile

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.