Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Best Buy has a consensus analyst rating of “Hold” from 22 brokerages, with 9 buy ratings, 11 hold ratings, and 2 sell ratings. The average 12-month price target is $71.30.
• Recent analyst actions have been mixed to bearish, including multiple downgrades and lower price targets from firms such as Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs.
• The stock traded down to $57.21, near its 52-week low, while Best Buy also reported quarterly earnings that beat EPS estimates and recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.96 per share.

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty-two brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $71.30.

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson set a $78.00 price objective on Best Buy in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Best Buy from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Best Buy from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Best Buy from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Best Buy from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $59.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 13th.

Insider Activity at Best Buy

In other news, EVP Jason J. Bonfig sold 6,336 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.02, for a total transaction of $405,630.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 79,137 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,066,350.74. The trade was a 7.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen Scarlett sold 8,049 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $6,572,869.38. This trade represents a 7.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 77,247 shares of company stock valued at $4,945,353 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.59% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Best Buy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 2.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,947,415 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $1,810,904,000 after buying an additional 552,360 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 100.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 2.3% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,754,844 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $132,701,000 after buying an additional 39,026 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 5.7% during the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,639,202 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $123,956,000 after buying an additional 89,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 60.5% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 112,604 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $8,515,000 after buying an additional 42,465 shares in the last quarter. 80.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Best Buy Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of BBY stock opened at $57.21 on Wednesday. Best Buy has a 1 year low of $56.68 and a 1 year high of $84.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $62.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.05 billion, a PE ratio of 11.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The technology retailer reported $2.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.13. Best Buy had a return on equity of 49.17% and a net margin of 2.56%.The company had revenue of $13.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Best Buy has set its FY 2027 guidance at 6.300-6.600 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Best Buy will post 6.5 EPS for the current year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 24th were paid a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 24th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. This is a boost from Best Buy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. Best Buy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.19%.

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.

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