Lazard Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in Best Buy Co., Inc. $BBY

Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 29.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 45,581 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,320 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Best Buy were worth $2,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Best Buy by 100.6% in the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 70,280 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $4,704,000 after buying an additional 35,239 shares during the period. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in shares of Best Buy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,741,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al raised its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 225,000 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $15,059,000 after acquiring an additional 67,600 shares in the last quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Best Buy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,295,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Best Buy by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 478,965 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $33,180,000 after acquiring an additional 38,739 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on BBY. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Best Buy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Best Buy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Best Buy from $60.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Best Buy in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group boosted their price target on shares of Best Buy from $68.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.50.

Best Buy Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of Best Buy stock opened at $86.19 on Friday. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.10 and a 1 year high of $91.26. The firm has a market cap of $18.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.96, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50-day moving average of $78.41 and a 200 day moving average of $68.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The technology retailer reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.05. Best Buy had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 48.70%. The firm had revenue of $8.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Best Buy has set its FY 2027 guidance at 6.300-6.600 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 18th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Best Buy’s payout ratio is presently 71.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Best Buy news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 500,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.12, for a total value of $38,086,642.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 10,930,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $832,036,206.32. The trade was a 4.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Mathew Watson sold 1,784 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total value of $131,659.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 21,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,596,294. This represents a 7.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 1,002,134 shares of company stock valued at $77,283,527 in the last quarter. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Best Buy

Best Buy Co, Inc is a leading North American consumer electronics retailer that sells a broad range of products including computers, mobile phones, televisions and home theater systems, major appliances, smart-home devices, gaming hardware and software, wearables and related accessories. The company operates through a mix of large-format stores, smaller specialty locations and an e-commerce platform, offering national and private-brand merchandise from major consumer-technology manufacturers as well as third-party sellers.

Beyond product retailing, Best Buy provides a suite of services aimed at installation, repair and ongoing technical support.