Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Trading Down 9.5% – Here’s What Happened

Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) shares dropped 9.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 59.40 ($0.73) and last traded at GBX 61.20 ($0.75). Approximately 1,615,870 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 37% from the average daily volume of 1,183,762 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 67.60 ($0.83).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a GBX 95 ($1.16) target price on shares of Smiths News in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Smiths News Stock Down 4.6 %

The company has a market cap of £138.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 648.89, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is GBX 63.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 59.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 490,569 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.74), for a total transaction of £299,247.09 ($365,381.06). Also, insider Paul Baker sold 319,586 shares of Smiths News stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.74), for a total transaction of £194,947.46 ($238,031.09). In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock valued at $121,608,258. Company insiders own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Smiths News Company Profile

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.