Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) Short Interest Update

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,720,000 shares, a drop of 6.5% from the March 15th total of 15,740,000 shares. Currently, 7.6% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,070,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group raised shares of Best Buy from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $85.00 to $95.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Best Buy from $68.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. TheStreet upgraded shares of Best Buy from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $69.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $84.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Best Buy news, CEO Corie S. Barry sold 28,042 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.80, for a total transaction of $2,293,835.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 429,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,105,206.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Todd G. Hartman sold 3,973 shares of Best Buy stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.80, for a total value of $324,991.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 25,912 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,119,601.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Corie S. Barry sold 28,042 shares of Best Buy stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.80, for a total transaction of $2,293,835.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 429,159 shares in the company, valued at $35,105,206.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 51,394 shares of company stock valued at $4,206,247. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Best Buy by 32.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,885,308 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $773,724,000 after purchasing an additional 2,409,006 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Best Buy in the 4th quarter valued at about $165,164,000. HS Management Partners LLC acquired a new position in Best Buy in the 4th quarter valued at about $103,854,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Best Buy by 1,079.7% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,330,700 shares of the technology retailer's stock valued at $104,154,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors acquired a new position in Best Buy in the 1st quarter valued at about $99,081,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.96% of the company's stock.

Best Buy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BBY traded down $1.11 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $75.18. 3,934,069 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,058,189. The stock has a market cap of $16.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.21, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Best Buy has a twelve month low of $62.30 and a twelve month high of $86.11. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $77.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.77.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology retailer reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $14.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.58 billion. Best Buy had a return on equity of 48.45% and a net margin of 2.86%. The business's revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.61 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Best Buy will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This is an increase from Best Buy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Best Buy's payout ratio is 66.08%.

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.