Greggs (LON:GRG) Stock Price Up 9.2% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Greggs plc (LON:GRG) shot up 9.2% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as GBX 2,237.88 ($29.97) and last traded at GBX 2,182 ($29.22). 1,496,559 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 0% from the average session volume of 1,501,760 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 1,999 ($26.77).

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GRG. Shore Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Greggs in a research report on Tuesday. Berenberg Bank cut their price target on Greggs from GBX 3,420 ($45.80) to GBX 3,250 ($43.52) and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th.

Greggs Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 1,827.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 2,210.36. The company has a market capitalization of £2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 66.19, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Greggs (LON:GRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported GBX 150.70 ($2.02) earnings per share for the quarter. Greggs had a net margin of 7.13% and a return on equity of 26.79%. As a group, research analysts expect that Greggs plc will post 142.3763386 earnings per share for the current year.

Greggs Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a GBX 100 ($1.34) dividend. This is a boost from Greggs’s previous dividend of $50.00. This represents a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Greggs’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.21%.

Insider Activity

In other Greggs news, insider Roisin Currie purchased 721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 1,796 ($24.05) per share, with a total value of £12,949.16 ($17,341.85). 5.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Greggs Company Profile

Greggs is a leading UK food-on-the-go retailer with more than 2,600 shops nationwide and approximately 33,000 employees across the business.

As a food-on-the-go retailer, Greggs specialises in daily fresh shop-made sandwiches, and savouries baked fresh in the shop ovens throughout the day. These are further complemented by popular products and ranges including freshly ground coffee, breakfast, confectionery and evening menu items.