Truist Financial Cuts Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) Price Target to $85.00

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) had its price target decreased by stock analysts at Truist Financial from $92.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Truist Financial’s target price points to a potential upside of 29.27% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on BYD. Argus upgraded shares of Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Boyd Gaming from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $73.00 to $92.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Boyd Gaming from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Boyd Gaming from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Boyd Gaming has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.00.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

Shares of BYD opened at $65.76 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.10. The stock has a market cap of $5.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.57, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.55. Boyd Gaming has a 12-month low of $49.34 and a 12-month high of $80.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.21. Boyd Gaming had a return on equity of 35.97% and a net margin of 14.70%. As a group, research analysts predict that Boyd Gaming will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Boyd Gaming

In other news, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.68, for a total transaction of $3,884,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,346,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $104,606,063.04. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.28, for a total value of $84,690.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,852 shares in the company, valued at $365,258.56. This trade represents a 18.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,125 shares of company stock worth $5,158,490. Corporate insiders own 27.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Boyd Gaming

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BYD. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,955,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,185,000 after buying an additional 1,065,887 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Boyd Gaming during the fourth quarter valued at about $55,553,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Boyd Gaming during the fourth quarter worth about $43,273,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 51.7% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,296,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,074,000 after buying an additional 441,963 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 964,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,932,000 after acquiring an additional 261,443 shares during the last quarter. 76.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.