Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Best Buy has been downgraded from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating cautious sentiment among equities researchers.
• Multiple analysts have assigned hold ratings to Best Buy, with a consensus price target of $81.69 for the stock.
• Insider selling activity has been noted, with Chairman Richard M. Schulze selling over 196,000 shares valued at approximately $14.5 million.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Best Buy in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Best Buy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down from $82.00) on shares of Best Buy in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Best Buy in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $81.69.

Best Buy Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE BBY opened at $79.71 on Friday. Best Buy has a 1 year low of $54.99 and a 1 year high of $96.77. The stock has a market cap of $16.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $74.78 and a 200 day moving average of $70.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The technology retailer reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.06. Best Buy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 47.32%. The company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. Best Buy's revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Best Buy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.150-6.300 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Best Buy will post 6.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 196,100 shares of Best Buy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $14,511,400.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mathew Watson sold 2,018 shares of Best Buy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.76, for a total transaction of $154,901.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 20,132 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,545,332.32. This represents a 9.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 201,833 shares of company stock valued at $14,941,472 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Best Buy

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its position in Best Buy by 6.6% during the second quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 48,919 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $3,284,000 after buying an additional 3,040 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Best Buy by 7.1% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 200,960 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $14,560,000 after buying an additional 13,378 shares during the period. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. bought a new stake in Best Buy during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,574,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp grew its position in Best Buy by 25.6% during the first quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 32,900 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $2,422,000 after buying an additional 6,700 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC grew its position in Best Buy by 191.9% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 10,714 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $789,000 after buying an additional 7,043 shares during the period. 80.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.