Gabelli Funds LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Boyd Gaming Corporation $BYD

Key Points

• Gabelli Funds LLC reduced its stake in Boyd Gaming Corporation by 9.4%, now holding 122,700 shares valued at approximately $8,077,000.
• Boyd Gaming's recent quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $1.87, exceeding expectations, with a revenue of $1.03 billion reflecting a 6.9% growth year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, with a yield of 0.8%, set to be paid on October 15th.

Gabelli Funds LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD - Free Report) by 9.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,700 shares of the company's stock after selling 12,800 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC owned approximately 0.15% of Boyd Gaming worth $8,077,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Boyd Gaming during the first quarter valued at approximately $598,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 1.1% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 692,496 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,587,000 after acquiring an additional 7,400 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Boyd Gaming during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,963,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Boyd Gaming by 3.2% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 115,799 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,623,000 after acquiring an additional 3,543 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Boyd Gaming during the first quarter valued at approximately $805,000. Institutional investors own 76.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BYD shares. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Macquarie raised their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $73.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $86.62.

Boyd Gaming Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:BYD traded down $0.95 on Monday, hitting $85.91. 1,046,573 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 999,217. Boyd Gaming Corporation has a 52 week low of $57.67 and a 52 week high of $87.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.09. The company has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.22, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.23.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.20. Boyd Gaming had a return on equity of 40.65% and a net margin of 14.02%.The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $976.81 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Boyd Gaming Corporation will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Boyd Gaming Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Boyd Gaming's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.08%.

Insider Activity at Boyd Gaming

In related news, CEO Keith Smith sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $2,130,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,046,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $89,188,369.69. This trade represents a 2.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Boyd sold 9,774 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.61, for a total value of $797,656.14. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,188 shares in the company, valued at $1,239,492.68. This trade represents a 39.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 285,438 shares of company stock valued at $23,976,085 over the last three months. 21.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Boyd Gaming

Boyd Gaming Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a multi-jurisdictional gaming company in Nevada, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The company operates through Las Vegas Locals, Downtown Las Vegas, Midwest & South, and Online segments.