Aviva (LON:AV) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Aviva plc (LON:AV) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as GBX 558.80 ($7.22) and last traded at GBX 555.20 ($7.18), with a volume of 7198026 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 560.60 ($7.25).

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AV. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “top pick” rating on shares of Aviva in a report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Aviva from GBX 615 ($7.95) to GBX 635 ($8.21) and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 585.67 ($7.57).

Aviva Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 68.87, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 2.93. The stock has a market cap of £15.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50-day moving average price is GBX 526.29 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 493.88.

Aviva (LON:AV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported GBX 23.60 ($0.31) EPS for the quarter. Aviva had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 3.52%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aviva plc will post 46.4942529 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aviva Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of GBX 23.80 ($0.31) per share. This represents a dividend yield of 4.25%. This is an increase from Aviva’s previous dividend of $11.90. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Aviva’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Amanda Blanc sold 523,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 555 ($7.18), for a total value of £2,906,690.40 ($3,757,841.50). 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Aviva

Aviva plc provides various insurance, retirement, investment, and savings products in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and internationally. The company offers life insurance, long-term health and accident insurance, savings, pension, and annuity products, as well as pension fund business and lifetime mortgage products.