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

Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) was down 9.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as GBX 59.40 ($0.73) and last traded at GBX 61.20 ($0.75). 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 ($0.83).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Smiths News Trading Down 1.3 %

The stock has a market cap of £143.20 million, a P/E ratio of 671.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average is GBX 63.04 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 59.84.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Investors 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%. 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 currently 5,555.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul Baker sold 319,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total transaction of £194,947.46 ($239,876.29). Also, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 1,183,423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total value of £721,888.03 ($888,258.93). Insiders have sold a total of 1,993,578 shares of company stock valued at $121,608,258 over 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.