Forterra (LON:FORT) Share Price Passes Below 50-Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Forterra plc (LON:FORT) shares passed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of GBX 161.61 ($2.07) and traded as low as GBX 158.60 ($2.03). Forterra shares last traded at GBX 163.80 ($2.09), with a volume of 560,067 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Forterra from GBX 210 ($2.68) to GBX 220 ($2.81) and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Forterra from GBX 260 ($3.32) to GBX 320 ($4.09) and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Berenberg Bank reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a GBX 170 ($2.17) price objective on shares of Forterra in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th.

Forterra Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of £347.09 million, a P/E ratio of 44.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 161.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 169.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 59.58, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.79.

Forterra (LON:FORT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 12th. The company reported GBX 7.60 ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter. Forterra had a return on equity of 3.76% and a net margin of 2.46%. On average, research analysts expect that Forterra plc will post 11.9888346 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Forterra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 12th will be given a dividend of GBX 2 ($0.03) per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 12th. This is a positive change from Forterra’s previous dividend of $1.00. This represents a yield of 1.24%. Forterra’s dividend payout ratio is 78.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Katherine Innes acquired 2,600 shares of Forterra stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 173 ($2.21) per share, with a total value of £4,498 ($5,747.51). 6.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Forterra

Forterra is a leading UK manufacturer of essential clay and concrete building products, with a unique combination of strong market positions in clay bricks, concrete blocks and precast concrete flooring. Our heritage dates back many decades and the durability, longevity and inherent sustainability of our products is evident in the construction of buildings that last for generations; wherever you are in Britain, you won’t be far from a building with a Forterra product within its fabric.

Our clay brick business combines our extensive secure mineral reserves with modern and efficient high-volume manufacturing processes to produce large quantities of extruded and soft mud bricks, primarily for the new build housing market.