Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) CEO Sells $2,293,835.60 in Stock

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) CEO Corie S. Barry sold 28,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.80, for a total transaction of $2,293,835.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 429,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,105,206.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Best Buy Stock Performance

BBY opened at $81.85 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a fifty day moving average of $76.01 and a 200 day moving average of $72.85. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.30 and a fifty-two week high of $86.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology retailer reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.21. Best Buy had a net margin of 2.86% and a return on equity of 48.45%. The company had revenue of $14.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.61 earnings per share. Best Buy’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 21st will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.59%. This is a positive change from Best Buy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BBY. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Best Buy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday, December 11th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $67.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Best Buy from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Best Buy from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.27.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Best Buy

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BBY. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 32.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,885,308 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $773,724,000 after acquiring an additional 2,409,006 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Best Buy in the 4th quarter worth about $165,164,000. HS Management Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Best Buy in the 4th quarter worth about $103,854,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 1,079.7% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,330,700 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $104,154,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors bought a new stake in shares of Best Buy in the 1st quarter worth about $99,081,000. Institutional investors own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

About Best Buy

Best Buy Co, Inc engages in the retail of technology products in the United States and Canada. The company operates in two segments, Domestic 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, home theater, portable audio comprising headphones and portable speakers, and smart home products.