Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Stock Price Down 9.5% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) were down 9.5% during mid-day 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 were traded 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 95 ($1.16) price objective on shares of Smiths News in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Smiths News Stock Down 4.6 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average is GBX 63.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 59.83. The company has a market capitalization of £138.46 million, a PE ratio of 648.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Smiths News

In other news, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 1,183,423 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.74), for a total value of £721,888.03 ($881,426.17). Also, insider Deborah Rabey bought 20,663 shares of Smiths News stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 63 ($0.77) per share, for a total transaction of £13,017.69 ($15,894.62). In the last three months, insiders sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock valued at $121,608,258. Corporate 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.