Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Has $40.49 Million Stock Holdings in Best Buy Co., Inc. $BBY

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners reduced its Best Buy stake by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, but still held 604,936 shares valued at about $40.49 million.
• Analysts remain cautious on BBY: the stock has a Hold consensus rating with an average price target of $79.05, though several firms recently raised their targets. Morgan Stanley, Daiwa, and JPMorgan all increased their price targets while keeping neutral-style ratings.
• Best Buy reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $1.28 and revenue of $8.94 billion, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.96 per share for a 4.9% yield.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. cut its holdings in Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY - Free Report) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 604,936 shares of the technology retailer's stock after selling 33,819 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.29% of Best Buy worth $40,488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BBY. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Best Buy by 99.8% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,997,871 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $525,120,000 after buying an additional 3,496,254 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Best Buy in the fourth quarter valued at $174,685,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Best Buy by 378.8% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,096,015 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $207,216,000 after buying an additional 2,449,342 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Best Buy by 293.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,052,805 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $70,464,000 after buying an additional 785,294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Best Buy by 14,865.2% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 771,159 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $51,614,000 after buying an additional 766,006 shares in the last quarter. 80.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BBY shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Best Buy from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Daiwa Securities Group raised their target price on Best Buy from $68.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Best Buy in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Best Buy from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Best Buy from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Best Buy presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.05.

Insider Activity at Best Buy

In other news, EVP Kathleen Scarlett sold 8,049 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.02, for a total transaction of $515,296.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 102,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,572,869.38. The trade was a 7.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jason J. Bonfig sold 6,336 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.02, for a total value of $405,630.72. Following the transaction, the executive vice president 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 579,381 shares of company stock worth $43,163,654. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Best Buy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BBY opened at $78.70 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.30. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.10 and a 1-year high of $84.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $64.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.70.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The technology retailer reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.82 billion. Best Buy had a return on equity of 48.70% and a net margin of 2.73%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. Best Buy has set its FY 2027 guidance at 6.300-6.600 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Best Buy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 18th. Best Buy's payout ratio is currently 71.11%.

Best Buy Profile

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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