Zacks Research Downgrades Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) to Hold

Key Points

• Zacks Research has downgraded Boyd Gaming's rating from "strong-buy" to "hold" as of Thursday, indicating a shift in investor sentiment.
• Barclays, Stifel Nicolaus, and Truist Financial have all increased their price targets for Boyd Gaming recently, with consensus indicating a target price of $87.83.
• Boyd Gaming reported a 6.9% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year and beat earnings expectations, posting $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on BYD. Barclays boosted their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $73.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Susquehanna cut Boyd Gaming from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $86.00 in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Macquarie boosted their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $87.83.

Boyd Gaming Stock Up 1.7%

Boyd Gaming stock opened at $85.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.86. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $84.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.47. The company has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.22, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23. Boyd Gaming has a fifty-two week low of $58.94 and a fifty-two week high of $87.83.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $976.81 million. Boyd Gaming had a return on equity of 40.65% and a net margin of 14.02%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.58 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Boyd Gaming will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Boyd Gaming

In other Boyd Gaming news, Chairman Marianne Boyd Johnson sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.62, for a total transaction of $8,662,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 1,704,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $147,633,308.98. The trade was a 5.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Keith Smith sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total value of $2,130,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,046,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $89,188,369.69. This trade represents a 2.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 385,438 shares of company stock worth $32,638,085 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 27.94% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Boyd Gaming

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 24.5% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 685 shares of the company's stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 24.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 960 shares of the company's stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 56.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 541 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 1.1% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,224,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in shares of Boyd Gaming by 0.4% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 47,753 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,143,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 76.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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