Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Best Buy Co., Inc. $BBY

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 26.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 767,534 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 162,598 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.36% of Best Buy worth $49,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in Best Buy during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Best Buy in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Best Buy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Best Buy during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. increased its stake in shares of Best Buy by 239.2% during the fourth quarter. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. now owns 441 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. 80.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on BBY shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Best Buy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $86.00 price target (up from $85.00) on shares of Best Buy in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Evercore lifted their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $65.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 target price on shares of Best Buy in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Best Buy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.50.

Best Buy Price Performance

BBY stock opened at $85.26 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $75.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.19. 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 stock has a market cap of $17.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.79, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.30. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.10 and a fifty-two week high of $87.35.

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

Best Buy Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Best Buy news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 500,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.12, for a total value of $38,086,642.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 10,930,586 shares in the company, valued at $832,036,206.32. This represents a 4.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 21,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,596,294. This represents a 7.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 1,002,134 shares of company stock worth $77,283,527 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Best Buy Company Profile

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.