Lazard Asset Management LLC Purchases 10,320 Shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. $BBY

Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 29.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,581 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,320 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Best Buy were worth $2,926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Best Buy by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,255,320 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $1,623,409,000 after purchasing an additional 307,905 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Best Buy by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,158,839 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $613,001,000 after buying an additional 2,160,968 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Best Buy by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,452,642 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $498,805,000 after buying an additional 160,713 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Best Buy by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,732,080 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $316,718,000 after buying an additional 271,988 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Best Buy by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,778,294 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $252,881,000 after buying an additional 605,911 shares during the period. 80.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Best Buy from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Best Buy from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $86.00 price objective (up from $85.00) on shares of Best Buy in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Best Buy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Best Buy in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.50.

Best Buy Trading Down 1.9%

NYSE BBY opened at $86.19 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.81. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.10 and a twelve month high of $91.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market capitalization of $18.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.96, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.30.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The technology retailer reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.82 billion. Best Buy had a return on equity of 48.70% and a net margin of 2.73%.The company’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. Best Buy has set its FY 2027 guidance at 6.300-6.600 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 18th were given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 18th. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Best Buy news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 500,350 shares of Best Buy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.12, for a total transaction of $38,086,642.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 10,930,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $832,036,206.32. This trade represents a 4.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mathew Watson sold 1,784 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $131,659.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 21,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,596,294. This trade represents a 7.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 1,002,134 shares of company stock worth $77,283,527 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

About Best Buy

Best Buy Co, Inc is a leading North American consumer electronics retailer that sells a broad range of products including computers, mobile phones, televisions and home theater systems, major appliances, smart-home devices, gaming hardware and software, wearables and related accessories. The company operates through a mix of large-format stores, smaller specialty locations and an e-commerce platform, offering national and private-brand merchandise from major consumer-technology manufacturers as well as third-party sellers.

Beyond product retailing, Best Buy provides a suite of services aimed at installation, repair and ongoing technical support.