Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) Stock Rating Lowered by Argus

Argus lowered shares of Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on BYD. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $71.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Boyd Gaming from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Boyd Gaming from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Boyd Gaming from $71.00 to $65.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Boyd Gaming from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Boyd Gaming currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $72.20.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

Boyd Gaming stock opened at $53.36 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The company has a market capitalization of $5.11 billion, a PE ratio of 9.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.95. Boyd Gaming has a twelve month low of $52.42 and a twelve month high of $73.00.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $954.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.04 million. Boyd Gaming had a net margin of 14.91% and a return on equity of 34.77%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Boyd Gaming will post 6.13 EPS for the current year.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Boyd Gaming news, Director A. Randall Thoman sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.75, for a total transaction of $159,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,083.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Boyd Gaming news, major shareholder William S. Boyd sold 63,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.12, for a total transaction of $4,005,847.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,795,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $555,168,740.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director A. Randall Thoman sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.75, for a total transaction of $159,375.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,083.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 582,910 shares of company stock worth $37,299,461 over the last three months. Company insiders own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Boyd Gaming

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 2.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,980,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $485,442,000 after acquiring an additional 167,849 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 4,747,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $297,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,216,121 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,756,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,638,000 after acquiring an additional 628,512 shares in the last quarter. HG Vora Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 12.5% during the third quarter. HG Vora Capital Management LLC now owns 2,250,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,868,000 after acquiring an additional 250,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 885.4% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,657,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,822,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,240 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

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.