Cypress Capital Group Reduces Position in Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY)

Cypress Capital Group cut its position in Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 37.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,610 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after selling 2,183 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Best Buy were worth $310,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BBY. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Best Buy in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 397,504 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $41,062,000 after buying an additional 60,880 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 90,341 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $9,332,000 after buying an additional 19,405 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,745 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $3,279,000 after buying an additional 3,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 27,267 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $2,817,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. 80.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Best Buy from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $105.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Best Buy in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Best Buy from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Best Buy from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price target on shares of Best Buy from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.50.

Best Buy Stock Performance

Shares of BBY stock opened at $78.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 1.00. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a one year low of $69.29 and a one year high of $103.71. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $85.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.43.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The technology retailer reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.18. Best Buy had a net margin of 3.01% and a return on equity of 45.93%. The company had revenue of $13.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.72 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.18 EPS for the current year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.95 per share. This is an increase from Best Buy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Best Buy’s payout ratio is currently 88.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Best Buy news, CFO Matthew M. Bilunas sold 69,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.46, for a total transaction of $6,049,258.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 92,070 shares in the company, valued at $8,052,442.20. The trade was a 42.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.59% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.