Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 15,731 Shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. $BBY

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) by 6.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 264,160 shares of the technology retailer’s stock after buying an additional 15,731 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Best Buy were worth $16,959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Best Buy during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Best Buy in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Best Buy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Best Buy in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. raised its stake in Best Buy by 239.2% during the 4th 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 owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on BBY. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Best Buy in a report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Best Buy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $68.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.50.

Best Buy Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:BBY opened at $87.07 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $18.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.12, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.10 and a 12-month high of $87.35. The business’s 50 day moving average is $74.45 and its 200 day moving average is $67.97.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 48.70% and a net margin of 2.73%.The business had revenue of $8.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. 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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Best Buy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 18th were issued a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 18th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.11%.

Insider Activity

In other Best Buy news, Chairman Richard M. Schulze sold 224,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were 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 approximately $814,656,101.60. This represents a 2.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mathew Watson sold 1,784 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 21,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,596,294. This trade represents a 7.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,002,134 shares of company stock valued at $77,283,527. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.