Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Best Buy (NYSE:BBY)

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 17,735 call options on the company. This is an increase of 44% compared to the typical daily volume of 12,322 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BBY. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Best Buy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Best Buy from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $95.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Best Buy from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Best Buy in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.85, for a total value of $85,850,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 15,890,103 shares in the company, valued at $1,364,165,342.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Todd G. Hartman sold 3,973 shares of Best Buy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.80, for a total transaction of $324,991.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 25,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,119,601.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.85, for a total value of $85,850,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 15,890,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,364,165,342.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,052,023 shares of company stock valued at $170,313,900 in the last ninety days. 0.59% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Best Buy

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BBY. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Best Buy by 8.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,450,910 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $239,735,000 after acquiring an additional 276,366 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Best Buy by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,886,962 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $236,818,000 after purchasing an additional 277,158 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Best Buy by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,791,561 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $218,527,000 after buying an additional 107,926 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,787,163 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $193,624,000 after buying an additional 199,749 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Best Buy by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,752,920 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $215,499,000 after buying an additional 166,478 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Best Buy Stock Up 2.7 %

Best Buy stock opened at $93.70 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.41, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 1.01. Best Buy has a fifty-two week low of $62.30 and a fifty-two week high of $93.72. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.96.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The technology retailer reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.12. Best Buy had a return on equity of 47.56% and a net margin of 2.90%. The company had revenue of $8.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Best Buy will post 6.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Best Buy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 20th will be given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 20th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.85%.

Best Buy Company Profile

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.