Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Best Buy Co., Inc. $BBY

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 610,568 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,144 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.29% of Best Buy worth $39,198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BBY has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Best Buy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Best Buy from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Best Buy from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Best Buy in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Best Buy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.50.

Insider Transactions at Best Buy

In related news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 224,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.10, for a total value of $17,549,460.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 10,430,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $814,656,101.60. This represents a 2.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mathew Watson sold 1,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total value of $131,659.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 21,630 shares in the company, valued at $1,596,294. This 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 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Best Buy Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:BBY opened at $82.97 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.04. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.10 and a twelve month high of $84.99. 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 company has a market capitalization of $17.49 billion, a PE ratio of 15.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.30.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The technology retailer reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $8.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The company’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. On average, equities analysts predict that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 18th were issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 18th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. 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.