Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) CEO Sells $27,728.16 in Stock

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) CEO Corie S. Barry sold 366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total transaction of $27,728.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 431,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,670,060.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Best Buy Stock Performance

Shares of BBY stock opened at $76.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.49. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a one year low of $62.30 and a one year 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. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $77.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.89.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology retailer reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $14.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.58 billion. Best Buy had a net margin of 2.86% and a return on equity of 48.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.61 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.03 EPS for the current year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Best Buy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.94%. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio is 66.08%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Best Buy

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Best Buy by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 103,459 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $8,100,000 after buying an additional 8,042 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Best Buy in the 4th quarter valued at $317,000. Mirabella Financial Services LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Best Buy in the 3rd quarter valued at $831,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 35.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 94,282 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $6,550,000 after purchasing an additional 24,763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 1,405.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 214,232 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $14,883,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. 80.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BBY. Telsey Advisory Group raised shares of Best Buy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $85.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Best Buy from $95.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Best Buy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $89.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Best Buy from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Best Buy from $69.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.60.

About Best Buy

Best Buy Co, Inc engages in the retail of technology products in the United States, Canada, 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, portable audio comprising headphones and portable speakers, and smart home products, as well as home theaters, which includes home theater accessories, soundbars, and televisions.