Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) Rating Lowered to “Equal Weight” at Morgan Stanley

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) was downgraded by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have a $81.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $82.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 5.39% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Boyd Gaming from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised Boyd Gaming from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.20.

Boyd Gaming Price Performance

Shares of BYD opened at $76.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $6.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.54. The business’s 50-day moving average is $74.77 and its 200-day moving average is $69.04. Boyd Gaming has a fifty-two week low of $49.34 and a fifty-two week high of $80.50.

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

Boyd Gaming declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William R. Boyd sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total value of $1,189,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,472,970 shares in the company, valued at $116,835,980.40. This represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 660 shares of Boyd Gaming stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total value of $49,948.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $452,339.36. This represents a 9.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,660 shares of company stock worth $5,123,749 over the last three months. 27.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Boyd Gaming

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 5,265,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,929,000 after buying an additional 21,616 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 36.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,955,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,887 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,108,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,680,000 after purchasing an additional 17,591 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Boyd Gaming by 51.7% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Boyd Gaming by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,153,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,611,000 after acquiring an additional 33,379 shares in 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.