The Weir Group (LON:WEIR) Upgraded to “Buy” at Panmure Gordon

Panmure Gordon upgraded shares of The Weir Group (LON:WEIR) to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. Panmure Gordon currently has GBX 3,490 price objective on the stock.

WEIR has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on The Weir Group from GBX 3,450 to GBX 3,800 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Shore Capital Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of The Weir Group in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their price target on The Weir Group from GBX 3,550 to GBX 3,500 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on The Weir Group from GBX 3,280 to GBX 3,723 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,705 price target on shares of The Weir Group in a research note on Thursday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 3,479.78.

The Weir Group Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of LON:WEIR traded down GBX 69.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching GBX 2,584.10. 1,630,749 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,972,881. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 93.56. The company has a market cap of £6.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.17. The Weir Group has a one year low of GBX 2,274 and a one year high of GBX 3,580. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 3,015.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 2,996.43.

The Weir Group (LON:WEIR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The company reported GBX 123.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The Weir Group had a return on equity of 13.42% and a net margin of 9.63%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Weir Group will post 136.0509554 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Weir Group news, insider Jon Stanton sold 25,580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 3,098, for a total value of £792,468.40. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

The Weir Group News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting The Weir Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Panmure Gordon upgraded WEIR to a “buy” with a GBX 3,490 price target, signaling analyst confidence in upside from current levels. Panmure Gordon upgrade — TickerReport
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies reaffirmed a “buy” stance and maintains a higher GBX 3,705 price target, supporting a bullish view on medium-term earnings/valuation. Jefferies reaffirms buy — AmericanBankingNews
• Neutral Sentiment: Shore Capital reiterated a “hold” rating, providing a more conservative view that tempers upside expectations. Shore Capital reaffirms hold — AmericanBankingNews
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Jon Stanton is stepping down after a decade leading the company — a near-term governance and execution risk that likely triggered investor selling and increases uncertainty until a successor and transition plan are announced. Change at the top — InsiderMedia

The Weir Group Company Profile

The Weir Group PLC produces and sells highly engineered original equipment worldwide. It operates in two segments, Minerals and ESCO. The Minerals segment offers engineering, manufacturing, and service processing technology for the use in abrasive high-wear mining applications; and differentiated technology for the use in infrastructure and general industrial markets. The ESCO segment provides ground engaging tools for large mining machines. This segment also offers cloud-based Artificial Intelligence solutions to the mining industry; manufactures and distributes highly engineered wear parts; and offers aftermarket services to the mining industry.