Essex Financial Services Inc. Acquires 6,713 Shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. $BBY

Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 205.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,973 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,713 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Best Buy were worth $640,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BBY. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 100.6% in the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 70,280 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $4,704,000 after buying an additional 35,239 shares in the last quarter. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new stake in shares of Best Buy in the 4th quarter worth $1,741,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al raised its position in shares of Best Buy by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 225,000 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $15,059,000 after purchasing an additional 67,600 shares during the last quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Best Buy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,295,000. Finally, Trust Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in Best Buy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,939,000. 80.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BBY has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Best Buy from $66.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered Best Buy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Best Buy from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $86.00 target price (up from $85.00) on shares of Best Buy in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Best Buy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.50.

Insider Activity

In other Best Buy news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 500,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.12, for a total transaction of $38,086,642.00. Following the transaction, the chairman 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mathew Watson sold 1,784 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $131,659.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 21,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,596,294. This represents a 7.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,002,134 shares of company stock valued at $77,283,527. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Best Buy Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of BBY stock opened at $77.81 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $68.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $16.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.41, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.30. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.10 and a twelve month high of $84.99.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The technology retailer reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $8.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. Best Buy’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Best Buy has set its FY 2027 guidance at 6.300-6.600 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Best Buy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 18th will be issued a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 18th. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.11%.

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.