62,650 Shares in Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD) Purchased by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 62,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,545,000. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.07% of Boyd Gaming as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BYD. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 36.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,955,544 shares of the company's stock worth $287,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,887 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Boyd Gaming in the fourth quarter worth about $55,553,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Boyd Gaming in the fourth quarter worth about $43,273,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 51.7% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,296,863 shares of the company's stock worth $94,074,000 after purchasing an additional 441,963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 964,051 shares of the company's stock worth $69,932,000 after purchasing an additional 261,443 shares during the last quarter. 76.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Boyd Gaming

In related news, Director William R. Boyd sold 15,000 shares of Boyd Gaming stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total transaction of $1,189,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,472,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,835,980.40. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Christine J. Spadafor sold 1,125 shares of Boyd Gaming stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.28, for a total value of $84,690.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $365,258.56. The trade was a 18.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,125 shares of company stock valued at $5,158,490 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 27.94% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BYD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $71.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Boyd Gaming in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Boyd Gaming from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on Boyd Gaming from $86.00 to $83.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.07.

Boyd Gaming Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BYD traded up $0.01 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $69.24. The stock had a trading volume of 926,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 958,931. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $67.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.22. The stock has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 11.13, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.31. Boyd Gaming Co. has a 1-year low of $49.34 and a 1-year high of $80.50.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $991.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $976.38 million. Boyd Gaming had a return on equity of 35.97% and a net margin of 14.70%. The business's revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.51 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Boyd Gaming Co. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Boyd Gaming's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Boyd Gaming's payout ratio is currently 11.75%.

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.