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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Smiths News Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of GBX 63.07 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 59.83. The firm has a market capitalization of £138.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 648.89, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of GBX 5.40 ($0.07) per share. This is a positive change from Smiths News’s previous dividend of $1.75. This represents a dividend yield of 9.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. Smiths News’s payout ratio is presently 5,555.56%.

Insider Transactions at Smiths News

In other news, insider Deborah Rabey purchased 20,663 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 63 ($0.77) per share, for a total transaction of £13,017.69 ($15,894.62). Also, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 1,183,423 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.74), for a total value of £721,888.03 ($881,426.17). Insiders have sold a total of 1,993,578 shares of company stock valued at $121,608,258 in the last ninety days. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.