Best Buy Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BBY)

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 10,104 call options on the company. This is an increase of 21% compared to the typical daily volume of 8,348 call options.

Best Buy News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Best Buy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Best Buy beat Wall Street estimates on both earnings and revenue, with adjusted EPS of $1.28 versus $1.22 expected and revenue of $8.94 billion versus $8.82 billion projected. Best Buy Reports First Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Comparable sales improved 2.0%, helped by strength in gaming, computers, and mobile phones, showing that key product categories are still driving traffic and spending. Best Buy beats on top and bottom lines as retailer aims to reinvigorate sales
• Positive Sentiment: The company reaffirmed its full-year outlook, which suggests management is confident the recent improvement can continue. Best Buy stock pops on first quarter earnings beat
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and media coverage highlighted that Best Buy is still navigating a mixed backdrop, with gaming and computing strength partly offset by softer appliance demand. Best Buy Reports Higher Profit on Rising Sales
• Positive Sentiment: Investors also appear to be attracted to Best Buy’s roughly 5% dividend yield, which makes the stock appealing even without blockbuster growth. Best Buy Surges on Earnings. Its 5% Yield Looks Even Better.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kathleen Scarlett sold 8,049 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.02, for a total value of $515,296.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 102,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,572,869.38. This represents a 7.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jason J. Bonfig sold 6,336 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.02, for a total transaction of $405,630.72. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 79,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,066,350.74. This represents a 7.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 77,247 shares of company stock worth $4,945,353. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Best Buy

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,255,320 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $1,623,409,000 after buying an additional 307,905 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,158,839 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $613,001,000 after buying an additional 2,160,968 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Best Buy by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,452,642 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $498,805,000 after purchasing an additional 160,713 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Best Buy by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,732,080 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $316,718,000 after purchasing an additional 271,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Best Buy by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,778,294 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $252,881,000 after purchasing an additional 605,911 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Best Buy Price Performance

Shares of Best Buy stock traded up $11.94 during trading on Thursday, hitting $76.48. 8,930,990 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,444,833. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $16.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.16, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $61.74 and its 200-day moving average is $66.83. Best Buy has a 52 week low of $55.10 and a 52 week high of $84.99.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The technology retailer reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.06. Best Buy had a return on equity of 49.17% and a net margin of 2.56%.The firm had revenue of $8.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Best Buy will post 6.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 24th were given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 24th. This is a positive change from Best Buy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio is 76.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BBY has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Best Buy from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Best Buy from $69.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Evercore set a $65.00 target price on Best Buy in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Best Buy in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of Best Buy from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.25.

About Best Buy

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.