Insider Buying: WH Smith PLC (LON:SMWH) Insider Acquires £10,006.20 in Stock

WH Smith PLC (LON:SMWH) insider Annette Court acquired 1,090 shares of WH Smith stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 918 ($12.21) per share, for a total transaction of £10,006.20 ($13,304.35).

WH Smith Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of LON SMWH opened at GBX 931 ($12.38) on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 1,064.10 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 1,200.76. The firm has a market capitalization of £1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.67. WH Smith PLC has a 52-week low of GBX 872.50 ($11.60) and a 52-week high of GBX 1,499 ($19.93). The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 253.13, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.85.

WH Smith (LON:SMWH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The company reported GBX 23.40 ($0.31) earnings per share for the quarter. WH Smith had a return on equity of 17.78% and a net margin of 3.44%. Sell-side analysts expect that WH Smith PLC will post 100.9372747 earnings per share for the current year.

WH Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th were issued a dividend of GBX 22.60 ($0.30) per share. This represents a yield of 1.74%. This is a positive change from WH Smith’s previous dividend of $11.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 16th. WH Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SMWH shares. Shore Capital reiterated a “not rated” rating on shares of WH Smith in a report on Wednesday. Berenberg Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 1,600 ($21.27) price objective on shares of WH Smith in a research report on Friday, February 28th.

WH Smith Company Profile

WH Smith PLC operates as a retailer in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates in two segments, Travel and High Street. The Travel segment offers news, books, and convenience for travelling customers. It operates stores in airports, hospitals, railway stations, and motorway service areas.