Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Best Buy in a report on Friday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Best Buy from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Wedbush increased their price objective on Best Buy from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Best Buy in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Best Buy in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Best Buy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.69.

Best Buy Stock Performance

NYSE:BBY opened at $80.91 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $75.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.43. Best Buy has a twelve month low of $54.99 and a twelve month high of $96.31. The stock has a market cap of $17.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.35, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The technology retailer reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.06. Best Buy had a return on equity of 47.32% and a net margin of 1.87%.The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Best Buy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.150-6.300 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Best Buy will post 6.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 18th were paid a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 18th. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio is 104.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Mathew Watson sold 2,018 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.76, for a total transaction of $154,901.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 20,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,545,332.32. This represents a 9.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 196,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $14,511,400.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 201,833 shares of company stock valued at $14,941,472. Insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Best Buy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. LVW Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 3,633 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 69.3% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 337 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,513 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $639,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 30,970 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $2,280,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,348 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $467,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. 80.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Best Buy

Best Buy Co, Inc engages in the retail of technology products in the United States, Canada, 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, portable audio comprising headphones and portable speakers, and smart home products, as well as home theaters, which includes home theater accessories, soundbars, and televisions.