Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) Rating Lowered to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report published on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $67.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $80.00.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on BYD. Susquehanna restated a neutral rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down previously from $84.00) on shares of Boyd Gaming in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Boyd Gaming from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a hold rating and set a $69.00 target price on shares of Boyd Gaming in a report on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Boyd Gaming from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on Boyd Gaming in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a buy rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $72.20.

Boyd Gaming Price Performance

BYD opened at $53.18 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. Boyd Gaming has a 12 month low of $52.42 and a 12 month high of $73.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.01. The stock has a market cap of $5.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.60.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.23. Boyd Gaming had a net margin of 14.91% and a return on equity of 34.77%. The business had revenue of $954.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Boyd Gaming will post 6.19 EPS for the current year.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.17 dividend. This is an increase from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.21%.

Insider Activity at Boyd Gaming

In related news, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 77,661 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.87, for a total value of $5,037,869.07. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,511,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $98,046,658.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Boyd Gaming news, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 77,661 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.87, for a total transaction of $5,037,869.07. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,511,433 shares in the company, valued at $98,046,658.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Ted Bogich sold 41,631 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.79, for a total transaction of $2,697,272.49. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 66,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,328,166.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 582,910 shares of company stock worth $37,299,461. Insiders own 27.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Boyd Gaming

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,980,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $485,442,000 after buying an additional 167,849 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its stake in Boyd Gaming by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 4,747,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $297,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,216,121 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in Boyd Gaming by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,756,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,638,000 after acquiring an additional 628,512 shares during the last quarter. HG Vora Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Boyd Gaming by 12.5% in the third quarter. HG Vora Capital Management LLC now owns 2,250,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,868,000 after acquiring an additional 250,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Boyd Gaming by 885.4% in the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,657,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,822,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,240 shares during the last quarter. 76.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.