Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) Short Interest Update

Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,200,000 shares, an increase of 10.0% from the January 15th total of 2,000,000 shares. Approximately 3.4% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 856,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 660 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total value of $49,948.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,977 shares in the company, valued at $452,339.36. This trade represents a 9.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Keith Smith sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total value of $2,164,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,101,202 shares in the company, valued at $79,451,724.30. This represents a 2.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 95,660 shares of company stock worth $7,288,249. Corporate insiders own 27.94% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Boyd Gaming

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 5,265,454 shares of the company's stock worth $381,929,000 after purchasing an additional 21,616 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 36.9% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,955,544 shares of the company's stock worth $287,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,887 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,108,672 shares of the company's stock worth $136,680,000 after purchasing an additional 17,591 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 51.7% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,296,863 shares of the company's stock valued at $94,074,000 after acquiring an additional 441,963 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,153,768 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,611,000 after acquiring an additional 33,379 shares during the period. 76.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on BYD. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised Boyd Gaming from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho raised their target price on Boyd Gaming from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Boyd Gaming from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $73.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $95.00.

Boyd Gaming Price Performance

NYSE:BYD traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $79.32. 640,443 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 956,977. The firm has a market cap of $7.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $74.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.69. Boyd Gaming has a 52 week low of $49.34 and a 52 week high of $80.50.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.21. Boyd Gaming had a return on equity of 35.97% and a net margin of 14.70%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Boyd Gaming will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This is a positive change from Boyd Gaming's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. Boyd Gaming's dividend payout ratio is currently 10.93%.

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.