Insider Selling: Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) CAO Sells $290,153.60 in Stock

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) CAO Mathew Watson sold 3,520 shares of Best Buy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.43, for a total transaction of $290,153.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,823,186.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Mathew Watson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 22nd, Mathew Watson sold 2,505 shares of Best Buy stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.80, for a total transaction of $204,909.00.

Best Buy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BBY opened at $78.00 on Friday. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.30 and a 1 year high of $86.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company’s 50-day moving average is $77.87 and its 200 day moving average is $73.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.49.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The technology retailer reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.21. Best Buy had a net margin of 2.86% and a return on equity of 48.45%. The business had revenue of $14.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.61 earnings per share. Best Buy’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.82%. This is a positive change from Best Buy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Best Buy’s payout ratio is presently 66.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BBY shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Best Buy from $95.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $67.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. TheStreet upgraded shares of Best Buy from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Telsey Advisory Group upgraded shares of Best Buy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.60.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Best Buy

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Best Buy by 1.2% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 19,612,957 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $1,535,106,000 after acquiring an additional 223,536 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Best Buy by 1.2% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,152,129 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $803,778,000 after buying an additional 123,256 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Best Buy by 32.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,885,308 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $773,724,000 after buying an additional 2,409,006 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Best Buy by 1.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,478,759 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $311,139,000 after buying an additional 66,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Best Buy by 0.7% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,218,968 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $329,735,000 after buying an additional 27,257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

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.