Wickes Group (LON:WIX) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Shares of Wickes Group plc (LON:WIX) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as GBX 172.40 and last traded at GBX 175.42, with a volume of 1666423 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at GBX 178.60.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WIX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Wickes Group from GBX 200 to GBX 227 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Berenberg Bank reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 280 target price on shares of Wickes Group in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Shore Capital Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Wickes Group in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 278 target price on shares of Wickes Group in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Wickes Group from GBX 250 to GBX 265 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Wickes Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 249.17.

Wickes Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 551.57, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 212.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 224.42. The firm has a market capitalization of £380.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.88.

Wickes Group (LON:WIX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 17th. The company reported GBX 17.40 EPS for the quarter. Wickes Group had a net margin of 2.35% and a return on equity of 29.52%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wickes Group plc will post 16.2278978 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Wickes Group

In other Wickes Group news, insider David Wood sold 355,050 shares of Wickes Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 223, for a total transaction of £791,761.50. Also, insider Mark George sold 223,433 shares of Wickes Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 220, for a total transaction of £491,552.60. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

About Wickes Group

Wickes is one of the UK’s best known home improvement retailers. Having opened our first store in 1972 we now have 228 stores across the UK, employing 7,400 colleagues and offering products ranging from kitchens and bathrooms, to paint, tools and timber.

Wickes is a successful, growing, cash generative and profitable business, operating in the large and growing £27 billion UK Home Improvement market. Over the past few years Wickes has consistently outperformed the market, growing share and delivering a CAGR growth rate double that of the market.

At Wickes, we have a clear purpose, which is to ‘help the nation feel house proud’, and we do this by focusing on our three customer segments – Local Trade, Do-it-for-me and DIY retail.