Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Trading Down 11% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) fell 11% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as GBX 59.40 ($0.73) and last traded at GBX 60.17 ($0.73). 3,049,240 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 114% from the average session volume of 1,422,657 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 67.60 ($0.83).

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Smiths News Stock Down 4.6 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 63.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 59.83. The stock has a market cap of £138.46 million, a P/E ratio of 648.89, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a GBX 5.40 ($0.07) dividend. This represents a yield of 9.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. This is a positive change from Smiths News’s previous dividend of $1.75. Smiths News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5,555.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 490,569 shares of Smiths News stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.74), for a total value of £299,247.09 ($365,381.06). Also, insider Deborah Rabey bought 20,663 shares of the business’s 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). Insiders have sold 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 insiders.

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.