Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Shares Down 9.5% – Should You Sell?

Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) shares dropped 9.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 59.40 ($0.73) and last traded at GBX 61.20 ($0.75). Approximately 1,615,870 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 37% from the average daily volume of 1,183,762 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 67.60 ($0.83).

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Smiths News Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is GBX 63.04 and its 200 day moving average price is GBX 59.84. The stock has a market capitalization of £145.10 million, a PE ratio of 680.00, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 1,183,423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total value of £721,888.03 ($888,258.93). Also, insider Deborah Rabey acquired 20,663 shares of Smiths News stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of GBX 63 ($0.78) per share, with a total value of £13,017.69 ($16,017.83). In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock worth $121,608,258. Company insiders own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

About Smiths News

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.