Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Trading Down 11% – Should You Sell?

Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS)’s stock price was down 11% on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 59.40 ($0.73) and last traded at GBX 60.17 ($0.74). Approximately 3,049,240 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 114% from the average daily volume of 1,422,657 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 67.60 ($0.84).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 95 ($1.17) target price on shares of Smiths News in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Smiths News Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of GBX 62.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 59.83. The stock has a market cap of £143.68 million, a PE ratio of 673.33, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a GBX 5.40 ($0.07) dividend. This is an increase from Smiths News’s previous dividend of $1.75. This represents a yield of 9.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. Smiths News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5,555.56%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul Baker sold 319,586 shares of Smiths News stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total value of £194,947.46 ($240,973.37). Also, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 490,569 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total transaction of £299,247.09 ($369,897.52). Insiders have sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock worth $121,608,258 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

About Smiths News

In 1792 we started delivering the nation’s newspapers. Today, we’re proud to be the UK’s largest wholesaler of newspapers and magazines, serving 24,000 retailers from superstores to corner shops.

Service and efficiency put us at the forefront of our industry and with 55% market share we are the leading player in one of the world’s fastest-moving supply chains.