Insider Selling: Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) EVP Sells $416,852.80 in Stock

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) EVP Kathleen Scarlett sold 5,096 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.80, for a total value of $416,852.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 76,226 shares in the company, valued at $6,235,286.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Best Buy Trading Up 2.2 %

Best Buy stock opened at $81.85 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.49. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.30 and a 52 week high of $86.11.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The technology retailer reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $14.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.58 billion. Best Buy had a return on equity of 48.45% and a net margin of 2.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.59%. This is a positive change from Best Buy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 20th. Best Buy’s payout ratio is currently 66.08%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Best Buy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Best Buy by 549.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 357 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC acquired a new stake in Best Buy in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new stake in Best Buy in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Best Buy during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 81.9% during the third quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 411 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. 80.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BBY. Telsey Advisory Group upgraded Best Buy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Best Buy from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Best Buy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Best Buy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TheStreet raised Best Buy from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.