Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Monday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on Best Buy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Best Buy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group raised their price target on Best Buy from $106.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $95.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Best Buy from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $102.41.

Best Buy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BBY opened at $100.00 on Monday. Best Buy has a one year low of $62.30 and a one year high of $103.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $21.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.46. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $90.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.91.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The technology retailer reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.18. Best Buy had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 47.19%. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Best Buy’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Best Buy will post 6.28 EPS for the current year.

Best Buy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 19th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jason J. Bonfig sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.02, for a total transaction of $290,570.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,714 shares in the company, valued at $4,210,276.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Jason J. Bonfig sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.02, for a total transaction of $290,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,210,276.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 88,542 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.25, for a total value of $7,813,831.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 13,602,853 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,200,451,777.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,383,370 shares of company stock valued at $122,233,276 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BBY. Ninety One UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Best Buy during the second quarter worth $121,325,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Best Buy by 4,337.6% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,099,495 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $92,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074,718 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Best Buy by 55.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,863,291 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $241,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,824 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Best Buy by 11,586.7% during the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 686,128 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $53,710,000 after purchasing an additional 680,257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in Best Buy by 320.4% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 860,388 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $67,352,000 after purchasing an additional 655,750 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Best Buy Company Profile

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.