Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Stock Price Down 11% – Here’s What Happened

Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) dropped 11% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 59.40 ($0.73) and last traded at GBX 60.17 ($0.74). Approximately 3,049,240 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 114% from the average daily volume of 1,422,657 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 67.60 ($0.84).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 95 ($1.17) price target on shares of Smiths News in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Smiths News Stock Down 11.0 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average of GBX 62.96 and a 200 day moving average of GBX 59.83. The company has a market capitalization of £142.65 million, a PE ratio of 668.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Smiths News

In other news, insider Deborah Rabey acquired 20,663 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 63 ($0.78) per share, for a total transaction of £13,017.69 ($16,091.09). Also, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 490,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total value of £299,247.09 ($369,897.52). Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock worth $121,608,258. 13.12% of the stock is owned by company 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.