Best Buy Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BBY)

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors bought 17,735 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 44% compared to the typical volume of 12,322 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Mathew Watson sold 2,505 shares of the company’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 $204,909.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,097,188.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Best Buy news, CAO Mathew Watson sold 2,505 shares of the company’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 $204,909.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,097,188.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen Scarlett sold 5,096 shares of Best Buy stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.80, for a total value of $416,852.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 76,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,235,286.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,052,023 shares of company stock valued at $170,313,900 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Best Buy

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BBY. Rise Advisors LLC raised its stake in Best Buy by 69.5% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 322 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Best Buy by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 5,087 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Best Buy by 56.5% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 388 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Best Buy by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,839 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC increased its position in Best Buy by 67.1% during the 1st quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 376 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BBY shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $69.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup upgraded shares of Best Buy from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $67.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Best Buy in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Best Buy from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Best Buy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Best Buy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.87.

Best Buy Stock Up 4.8 %

BBY stock traded up $4.18 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $91.39. 4,238,092 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,114,808. The firm has a market cap of $19.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.49. Best Buy has a 1-year low of $62.30 and a 1-year high of $91.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.68.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The technology retailer reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $8.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.96 billion. Best Buy had a return on equity of 47.56% and a net margin of 2.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Best Buy will post 6.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 20th will be given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 20th. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.85%.

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.