J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) Stock Breaks Above 50-Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Shares of J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY) crossed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of GBX 338.33 and traded as high as GBX 344.88. J Sainsbury shares last traded at GBX 343.80, with a volume of 13,657,762 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SBRY has been the topic of a number of research reports. Shore Capital Group reaffirmed a “house stock” rating on shares of J Sainsbury in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of J Sainsbury from GBX 330 to GBX 346 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of J Sainsbury to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from GBX 390 to GBX 365 in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 356.

J Sainsbury Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 338.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of GBX 333.76. The stock has a market cap of £7.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 115.36.

J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The grocer reported GBX 9.50 EPS for the quarter. J Sainsbury had a return on equity of 6.39% and a net margin of 1.15%. Research analysts expect that J Sainsbury plc will post 25.72 EPS for the current year.

J Sainsbury declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, October 23rd that permits the company to repurchase £100 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the grocer to reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Katie Bickerstaffe bought 5,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 347 per share, for a total transaction of £19,890.04. Also, insider Simon Roberts sold 560,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 350, for a total value of £1,960,000. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About J Sainsbury

J Sainsbury plc is one of the UK’s leading food, general merchandise and clothing retailers.

Offering delicious, great quality food at competitive prices has been at the heart of what we do since we opened our first store in 1869. Today, inspiring and delighting our customers with tasty food remains our priority. Our purpose is that driven by our passion for food, together we serve and help every customer.

Our focus on great value food and convenient shopping, whether in-store or online is supported by our brands – Argos, Habitat, Tu, Nectar and Sainsbury’s Bank.