Bridgewater Associates LP Trims Position in Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD)

Bridgewater Associates LP lessened its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD - Free Report) by 40.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 35,838 shares of the company's stock after selling 24,314 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP's holdings in Boyd Gaming were worth $2,600,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 5,265,454 shares of the company's stock valued at $381,929,000 after purchasing an additional 21,616 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Boyd Gaming by 36.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,955,544 shares of the company's stock worth $287,185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,887 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Boyd Gaming by 51.7% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,296,863 shares of the company's stock worth $94,074,000 after acquiring an additional 441,963 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Boyd Gaming by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,153,768 shares of the company's stock worth $74,611,000 after acquiring an additional 33,379 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Boyd Gaming by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 974,973 shares of the company's stock worth $70,725,000 after acquiring an additional 3,052 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.81% of the company's stock.

Boyd Gaming Stock Performance

NYSE BYD traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $66.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 457,236 shares, compared to its average volume of 978,859. Boyd Gaming Co. has a 12 month low of $49.34 and a 12 month high of $80.50. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $68.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.04. The company has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 35.97% and a net margin of 14.70%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Boyd Gaming Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is an increase 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 1.09%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Boyd Gaming's payout ratio is currently 11.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Boyd Gaming

In other Boyd Gaming news, Director William R. Boyd sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total transaction of $1,189,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,472,970 shares in the company, valued at $116,835,980.40. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 50,000 shares of the business'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 sale, the chairman now owns 1,346,628 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $104,606,063.04. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,125 shares of company stock worth $5,158,490 in the last three months. 27.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on BYD shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised Boyd Gaming from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $93.73.

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.