265,398 Shares in Boyd Gaming Corporation $BYD Bought by Deprince Race & Zollo Inc.

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 265,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,810,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 56.8% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 13.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $628,000 after purchasing an additional 1,172 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in Boyd Gaming in the 1st quarter worth about $207,000. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new position in Boyd Gaming during the second quarter worth approximately $229,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in Boyd Gaming by 14,719.0% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 3,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 3,091 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BYD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Boyd Gaming in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Benchmark started coverage on Boyd Gaming in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Boyd Gaming from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.15.

Boyd Gaming Price Performance

Shares of Boyd Gaming stock opened at $87.77 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.66. Boyd Gaming Corporation has a 12 month low of $76.33 and a 12 month high of $91.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.85, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.16). Boyd Gaming had a return on equity of 25.63% and a net margin of 44.84%.The firm had revenue of $997.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Boyd Gaming Corporation will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Boyd Gaming’s payout ratio is 3.51%.

Boyd Gaming announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 23rd that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Boyd Gaming

In other news, CEO Keith Smith sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $8,590,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 996,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $85,640,667.90. This represents a 9.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 62,914 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.03, for a total transaction of $5,286,663.42. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 1,609,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $135,272,166.24. The trade was a 3.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 200,000 shares of company stock worth $17,038,987. 22.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Boyd Gaming Profile

Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE: BYD) is a diversified hospitality and gaming company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company develops, owns and operates a portfolio of branded gaming and entertainment properties, including casinos, hotels, restaurants and meeting facilities. Boyd Gaming’s offerings range from slot machines and table games to live entertainment, dining concepts and convention space, designed to appeal to both regional and destination visitors.

Founded in 1975 by its namesake, William S.