Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Trading 0.3% Higher – Here’s What Happened

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on SNWS. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 95 ($1.18) target price on shares of Smiths News in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 95 ($1.18) price target on shares of Smiths News in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Smiths News Stock Up 1.3 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of GBX 62.72 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 59.92. The firm has a market capitalization of £144.62 million, a P/E ratio of 677.78, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Smiths News Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Smiths News’s previous dividend of $1.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 9th. This represents a yield of 9.47%. Smiths News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5,555.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smiths News

In other Smiths News news, insider Paul Baker sold 319,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 purchased 20,663 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of GBX 63 ($0.78) per share, for a total transaction of £13,017.69 ($16,148.98). Corporate 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.