Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) Insider Sells $324,991.40 in Stock

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) insider Todd G. Hartman sold 3,973 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.80, for a total transaction of $324,991.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 25,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,119,601.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Best Buy Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of BBY opened at $81.85 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.49. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.30 and a 1 year high of $86.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.85.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology retailer reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $14.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.58 billion. Best Buy had a net margin of 2.86% and a return on equity of 48.45%. The firm’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Best Buy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.59%. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.08%.

Institutional Trading of Best Buy

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirabella Financial Services LLP acquired a new stake in Best Buy in the third quarter valued at approximately $831,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Best Buy by 35.6% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 94,282 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $6,550,000 after purchasing an additional 24,763 shares in the last quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd raised its holdings in Best Buy by 1,405.3% during the third quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 214,232 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $14,883,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Best Buy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,589,000. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new stake in Best Buy during the third quarter worth approximately $3,885,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Best Buy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Best Buy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $89.00 in a report on Monday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Best Buy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $101.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Best Buy from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Best Buy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.27.

Best Buy Company Profile

Best Buy Co, Inc engages in the retail of technology products in the United States and Canada. The company operates in two segments, Domestic 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, home theater, portable audio comprising headphones and portable speakers, and smart home products.