Raymond James & Associates Has $236.82 Million Stake in Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 10.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,886,962 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after buying an additional 277,158 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 1.34% of Best Buy worth $236,818,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Best Buy in the fourth quarter worth $165,164,000. HS Management Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Best Buy during the fourth quarter worth about $103,854,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Best Buy by 120.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,336,071 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $92,819,000 after buying an additional 729,605 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position 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 buying an additional 687,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 11,586.7% during the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 686,128 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $53,710,000 after acquiring an additional 680,257 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BBY. 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on Best Buy from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Best Buy from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. TheStreet raised Best Buy from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group upgraded shares of Best Buy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $85.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Best Buy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.60.

Best Buy Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE BBY traded down $0.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $75.05. The company had a trading volume of 2,125,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,398,775. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.30 and a 12 month high of $86.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $16.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.49. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $78.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.12.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology retailer reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $14.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.01%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This is an increase from Best Buy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.08%.

Insider Activity at Best Buy

In other Best Buy news, CAO Mathew Watson sold 3,520 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Best Buy news, CAO Mathew Watson sold 3,520 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,823,186.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Todd G. Hartman sold 3,973 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.80, for a total transaction of $324,991.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,119,601.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,023 shares of company stock worth $4,253,900 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.56% 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.