Best Buy Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BBY)

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 67,540 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 286% compared to the typical volume of 17,478 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BBY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Best Buy from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Best Buy from $101.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Best Buy from $106.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Best Buy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 owns 14,911,525 shares in the company, valued at $1,319,073,501.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 600,000 shares of Best Buy stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.29, for a total value of $52,974,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 14,002,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,236,311,891.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 691,328 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 14,911,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,319,073,501.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,383,370 shares of company stock valued at $122,233,276 over the last 90 days. 0.59% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Best Buy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new stake in shares of Best Buy in the first quarter worth $8,676,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Best Buy by 78.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,039 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $172,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 195,156 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $15,277,000 after buying an additional 50,438 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 11.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 74,764 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $6,302,000 after acquiring an additional 7,663 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Best Buy in the fourth quarter valued at $328,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Best Buy Price Performance

Shares of BBY opened at $98.48 on Friday. Best Buy has a fifty-two week low of $62.30 and a fifty-two week high of $103.71. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $89.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.24 billion, a PE ratio of 17.25, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.46. 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 (NYSE:BBY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The technology retailer reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.18. Best Buy had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 47.19%. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Best Buy’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Best Buy will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th will be given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.82%. 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.