Spectris (LON:SXS) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Spectris plc (LON:SXS) shares hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 1,915 ($24.47) and last traded at GBX 1,991.02 ($25.44), with a volume of 59552078 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 2,050 ($26.19).

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SXS. Berenberg Bank decreased their target price on shares of Spectris from GBX 3,180 ($40.63) to GBX 3,000 ($38.33) and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Shore Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Spectris in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of GBX 3,765 ($48.11).

Spectris Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is GBX 2,617.65 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 2,597.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.37, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 2.36. The company has a market capitalization of £2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.61.

Spectris (LON:SXS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The company reported GBX 148.10 ($1.89) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Spectris had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 20.13%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Spectris plc will post 194.7972456 earnings per share for the current year.

Spectris Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of GBX 56.60 ($0.72) per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.25%. This is a boost from Spectris’s previous dividend of $26.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Spectris’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.00%.

Insider Transactions at Spectris

In other Spectris news, insider Andrew Heath sold 8,848 shares of Spectris stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 2,532 ($32.35), for a total value of £224,031.36 ($286,265.47). Also, insider Derek Harding sold 22,577 shares of Spectris stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 2,420 ($30.92), for a total transaction of £546,363.40 ($698,138.77). Insiders acquired a total of 3,752 shares of company stock valued at $7,831,047 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.21% of the company’s stock.

Spectris Company Profile

The experts in providing insight through precision measurement.

Our purpose is to deliver value beyond measure – going beyond just the measurement.

Precision is at the heart of what we do. Spectris provides global customers with specialist insight through our high-tech instruments and test equipment, augmented by the power of our software.

Through a combination of our hardware, analytical and simulation software, we provide our customers with superior data and invaluable insights that enable them to work faster, smarter and more efficiently.

This equips them with the ability to reduce time to market, improve processes, quality and yield.