Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Trading Down 9.5% – Here’s Why

Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) dropped 9.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 59.40 ($0.73) and last traded at GBX 61.20 ($0.76). Approximately 1,615,870 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 37% from the average daily volume of 1,183,762 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 67.60 ($0.84).

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Smiths News Trading Down 9.5 %

The business’s fifty day moving average is GBX 62.96 and its 200 day moving average is GBX 59.83. The company has a market cap of £145.10 million, a P/E ratio of 680.00, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Smiths News news, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 490,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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). Also, insider Deborah Rabey purchased 20,663 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 63 ($0.78) per share, for a total transaction of £13,017.69 ($16,091.09). In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock valued at $121,608,258. 13.12% of the stock is owned by 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.