Best Buy Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:BBY)

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 10,054 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 30% compared to the typical daily volume of 7,752 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Best Buy from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Best Buy from $66.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Best Buy in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Best Buy from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.50.

Best Buy Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of Best Buy stock traded up $2.98 during trading on Friday, hitting $82.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,625,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,489,515. Best Buy has a 52 week low of $55.10 and a 52 week high of $84.99. The company has a market capitalization of $17.49 billion, a PE ratio of 15.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The technology retailer reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.05. Best Buy had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 48.70%. The business had revenue of $8.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. Best Buy’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Best Buy has set its FY 2027 guidance at 6.300-6.600 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Best Buy will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Best Buy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 18th were paid a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 18th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.11%.

Insider Transactions at Best Buy

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 500,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.12, for a total transaction of $38,086,642.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 10,930,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $832,036,206.32. This represents a 4.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mathew Watson sold 1,784 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $131,659.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 21,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,596,294. This represents a 7.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 1,002,134 shares of company stock worth $77,283,527 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Best Buy by 100.6% during the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 70,280 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $4,704,000 after buying an additional 35,239 shares during the last quarter. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in shares of Best Buy in the 4th quarter worth $1,741,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al grew its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 225,000 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $15,059,000 after acquiring an additional 67,600 shares during the period. Trust Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in Best Buy during the third quarter valued at $1,939,000. Finally, Oxbow Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Best Buy during the fourth quarter valued at $6,295,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Best Buy Company Profile

Best Buy Co, Inc is a leading North American consumer electronics retailer that sells a broad range of products including computers, mobile phones, televisions and home theater systems, major appliances, smart-home devices, gaming hardware and software, wearables and related accessories. The company operates through a mix of large-format stores, smaller specialty locations and an e-commerce platform, offering national and private-brand merchandise from major consumer-technology manufacturers as well as third-party sellers.

Beyond product retailing, Best Buy provides a suite of services aimed at installation, repair and ongoing technical support.