Bank of Nova Scotia Grows Stock Holdings in Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY)

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY - Free Report) by 42.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 180,324 shares of the technology retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 53,792 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 0.08% of Best Buy worth $15,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,982,608 shares of the technology retailer's stock worth $1,971,908,000 after buying an additional 191,161 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,560,368 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $562,880,000 after purchasing an additional 395,415 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Best Buy in the fourth quarter valued at about $514,483,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Best Buy by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,092,820 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $436,210,000 after buying an additional 239,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,824,425 shares of the technology retailer's stock worth $328,136,000 after buying an additional 459,353 shares in the last quarter. 80.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on BBY. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Best Buy from $89.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Best Buy from $102.00 to $92.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Best Buy from $81.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Best Buy from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Best Buy in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.28.

Best Buy Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE BBY traded down $0.77 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $60.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 906,630 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,248,253. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.99 and a 12 month high of $103.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.90. The stock has a market cap of $12.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.42.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The technology retailer reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.18. Best Buy had a return on equity of 45.93% and a net margin of 3.01%. The business had revenue of $13.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.95 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.29%. This is an increase from Best Buy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Best Buy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kathleen Scarlett sold 6,847 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.65, for a total transaction of $497,434.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,348,810.85. The trade was a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Todd G. Hartman sold 4,893 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.65, for a total transaction of $355,476.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,320 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,348,048. This represents a 13.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 78,355 shares of company stock valued at $5,767,213. Corporate insiders own 0.59% of the company's stock.

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.