Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) Price Target Raised to $82.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) had its target price boosted by Stifel Nicolaus from $74.00 to $82.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the stock.

BYD has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Boyd Gaming from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Barclays upped their target price on Boyd Gaming from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Argus upgraded Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Boyd Gaming from $69.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.00.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

Boyd Gaming stock opened at $77.09 on Friday. 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 has a 12 month low of $49.34 and a 12 month high of $80.50. The company has a market cap of $6.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 1.54. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $74.10 and its 200-day moving average is $67.49.

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 net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 35.10%. Equities analysts anticipate that Boyd Gaming will post 6.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Boyd Gaming announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Boyd Gaming Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Boyd Gaming

In other Boyd Gaming news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total transaction of $49,948.80. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Keith Smith sold 40,000 shares of Boyd Gaming stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.49, for a total transaction of $2,939,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,161,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $85,336,734.98. This trade represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 100,660 shares of company stock worth $7,307,149 over the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Boyd Gaming

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in Boyd Gaming by 25.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 47,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,062,000 after buying an additional 9,565 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 11,891.7% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 62,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,016,000 after acquiring an additional 61,599 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Boyd Gaming in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,101,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 201.3% in the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 49,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,229,000 after acquiring an additional 33,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

Boyd Gaming Company 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.