M&T Bank Corp Takes Position in Boyd Gaming Corporation $BYD

M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 13,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,179,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BYD. First Horizon Corp bought a new stake in Boyd Gaming during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in Boyd Gaming by 162.1% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Boyd Gaming by 56.8% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. bought a new stake in Boyd Gaming during the third quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in Boyd Gaming during the third quarter valued at $53,000. 76.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BYD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $95.00 to $91.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Truist Financial set a $110.00 price objective on Boyd Gaming in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Boyd Gaming has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.08.

Boyd Gaming Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of BYD stock opened at $86.89 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $84.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.58. Boyd Gaming Corporation has a 12-month low of $68.98 and a 12-month high of $89.96. The firm has a market cap of $6.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.19.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.16). Boyd Gaming had a return on equity of 26.53% and a net margin of 44.84%.The firm had revenue of $997.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Boyd Gaming Corporation will post 7.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Boyd Gaming Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Boyd Gaming’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. Boyd Gaming’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.51%.

Boyd Gaming declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Boyd Gaming news, Director William R. Boyd sold 30,000 shares of Boyd Gaming stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $2,545,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,930,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,779,123.48. The trade was a 1.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Josh Hirsberg sold 23,924 shares of Boyd Gaming stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.86, for a total value of $2,054,114.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 435,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,413,151.56. This trade represents a 5.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 73,454 shares of company stock valued at $6,231,827 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 22.82% of the company’s stock.

Boyd Gaming Company Profile

Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE: BYD) is a diversified hospitality and gaming company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company develops, owns and operates a portfolio of branded gaming and entertainment properties, including casinos, hotels, restaurants and meeting facilities. Boyd Gaming’s offerings range from slot machines and table games to live entertainment, dining concepts and convention space, designed to appeal to both regional and destination visitors.

Founded in 1975 by its namesake, William S.