Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Purchases Shares of 60,000 Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 60,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,757,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in Boyd Gaming by 105.5% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Boyd Gaming in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Boyd Gaming during the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 3,333.3% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 20,342.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 1,424 shares during the last quarter. 76.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BYD. Argus cut shares of Boyd Gaming from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Boyd Gaming from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Boyd Gaming from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Boyd Gaming from $71.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Boyd Gaming from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $67.00 in a report on Friday, April 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Boyd Gaming presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.42.

Boyd Gaming Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of BYD stock opened at $53.73 on Wednesday. Boyd Gaming Co. has a 52-week low of $49.34 and a 52-week high of $73.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.88. The company has a market capitalization of $5.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.65 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.06). Boyd Gaming had a net margin of 14.91% and a return on equity of 34.76%. The company had revenue of $960.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $947.26 million. Research analysts anticipate that Boyd Gaming Co. will post 6.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.21%.

Boyd Gaming announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, May 13th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 9.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 1,874 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.38, for a total transaction of $100,034.12. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,338 shares in the company, valued at approximately $124,802.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

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.