Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Trading Down 9.5% – Should You Sell?

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 traded hands 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 reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 95 ($1.17) target price on shares of Smiths News in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Smiths News Trading Down 9.5 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 62.96 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 59.83. The stock has a market capitalization of £145.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 680.00, 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a GBX 5.40 ($0.07) dividend. This is a positive change from Smiths News’s previous dividend of $1.75. This represents a yield of 9.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. Smiths News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5,555.56%.

Insider Activity

In other Smiths News news, 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). Also, insider Paul Baker sold 319,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total transaction of £194,947.46 ($240,973.37). Insiders have sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock worth $121,608,258 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

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.