Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Shares Up 0.3% – Time to Buy?

Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) was up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as GBX 62.40 ($0.77) and last traded at GBX 60.20 ($0.75). Approximately 191,902 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 628,161 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 60 ($0.74).

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 95 ($1.18) target price on shares of Smiths News in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 95 ($1.18) price objective on shares of Smiths News in a research note on Thursday, January 16th.

Smiths News Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of £144.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 677.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average is GBX 62.72 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 59.92.

Smiths News (LON:SNWS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported GBX 10.30 ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter. As a group, research analysts predict that Smiths News plc will post 10.5555556 EPS for the current year.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a dividend of GBX 5.40 ($0.07) per share. This represents a yield of 9.47%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 9th. This is an increase from Smiths News’s previous dividend of $1.75. Smiths News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5,555.56%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul Baker sold 319,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.76), for a total value of £194,947.46 ($241,840.29). Also, insider Deborah Rabey bought 20,663 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of GBX 63 ($0.78) per share, for a total transaction of £13,017.69 ($16,148.98). 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.