Legal & General Group Plc Sells 13,025 Shares of Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 140,656 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,025 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.16% of Boyd Gaming worth $10,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 460 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 80.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 393 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A boosted its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A now owns 3,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Boyd Gaming by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH increased its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 14,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the period. 76.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Boyd Gaming Price Performance

Shares of Boyd Gaming stock opened at $64.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.31. Boyd Gaming Co. has a one year low of $49.34 and a one year high of $80.50. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.02.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last issued its 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%. Analysts forecast that Boyd Gaming Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a positive change from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on BYD. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Boyd Gaming from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Boyd Gaming from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price target on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Boyd Gaming from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.27.

Boyd Gaming Company Profile

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.