Todd Asset Management LLC Purchases 290,689 Shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY)

Todd Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 157.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 475,813 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 290,689 shares during the quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.22% of Best Buy worth $37,247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BBY. HS Management Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Best Buy during the 4th quarter valued at $103,854,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 120.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,336,071 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $92,819,000 after buying an additional 729,605 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of Best Buy by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,586,442 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $179,680,000 after acquiring an additional 687,556 shares during the last quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Best Buy by 426.7% in the third quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 740,608 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $51,450,000 after purchasing an additional 600,000 shares during the period. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Best Buy by 73.1% during the fourth quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 1,228,980 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $97,339,000 after purchasing an additional 518,920 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Best Buy from $69.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Telsey Advisory Group raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Best Buy from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Best Buy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Best Buy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Best Buy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.60.

Best Buy Price Performance

Shares of BBY stock traded up $2.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $74.47. The company had a trading volume of 2,058,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,576,371. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.50. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a one year low of $62.30 and a one year high of $86.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $77.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.23.

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

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is an increase from Best Buy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. Best Buy’s payout ratio is currently 66.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Best Buy

In other news, CAO Mathew Watson sold 2,505 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.80, for a total transaction of $204,909.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,638 shares in the company, valued at $2,097,188.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Corie S. Barry sold 28,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.80, for a total value of $2,293,835.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 429,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,105,206.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mathew Watson sold 2,505 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.80, for a total transaction of $204,909.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,097,188.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,023 shares of company stock valued at $4,253,900. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.