Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Cuts Stock Position in Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC decreased its stake in shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 9.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 837,292 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after selling 87,182 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Best Buy were worth $86,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BBY. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Best Buy by 190.9% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 320 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Best Buy during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Best Buy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. LRI Investments LLC lifted its position in Best Buy by 632.1% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 388 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 53.3% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 492 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. 80.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Best Buy

In other Best Buy news, CFO Matthew M. Bilunas sold 69,166 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.46, for a total transaction of $6,049,258.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 92,070 shares in the company, valued at $8,052,442.20. This represents a 42.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.59% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BBY. Wedbush increased their price objective on Best Buy from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $114.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Best Buy in a research report on Friday, August 30th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Best Buy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Best Buy from $123.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Melius Research began coverage on Best Buy in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $100.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.06.

Best Buy Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of BBY opened at $87.58 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.44. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.29 and a 12-month high of $103.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $91.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $90.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The technology retailer reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $9.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.63 billion. Best Buy had a return on equity of 45.93% and a net margin of 3.01%. The business’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Best Buy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.27%.

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.