Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Trading Down 7.8% – What’s Next?

Shares of Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) fell 7.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 61 ($0.75) and last traded at GBX 62.32 ($0.77). 2,128,450 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 68% from the average session volume of 1,269,192 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 67.60 ($0.84).

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Smiths News Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is GBX 62.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 59.83. The company has a market capitalization of £144.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 675.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of GBX 5.40 ($0.07) per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. This is an increase from Smiths News’s previous dividend of $1.75. This represents a yield of 9.47%. Smiths News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5,555.56%.

Insider Activity at Smiths News

In other news, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 1,183,423 shares of Smiths News stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total transaction of £721,888.03 ($892,321.42). Also, insider Paul Baker sold 319,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total transaction of £194,947.46 ($240,973.37). Insiders have sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock worth $121,608,258 over the last three months. Company 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.