Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) Insider Sells $355,476.45 in Stock

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) insider Todd G. Hartman sold 4,893 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.65, for a total transaction of $355,476.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,348,048. This trade represents a 13.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Best Buy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BBY opened at $72.28 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $82.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The company has a market cap of $15.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.43. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.29 and a 1-year high of $103.71.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The technology retailer reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.18. Best Buy had a net margin of 3.01% and a return on equity of 45.93%. The firm had revenue of $13.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.72 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be issued a $0.95 dividend. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. This is a positive change from Best Buy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio is 88.99%.

Institutional Trading of Best Buy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,982,608 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $1,971,908,000 after acquiring an additional 191,161 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Best Buy by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,560,368 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $562,880,000 after purchasing an additional 395,415 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Best Buy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $514,483,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Best Buy by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,092,820 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $436,210,000 after purchasing an additional 239,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Best Buy by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,824,425 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $328,136,000 after buying an additional 459,353 shares during the last quarter. 80.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price objective on Best Buy from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Best Buy from $102.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Best Buy from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Best Buy in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $106.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.50.

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.