Softcat (LON:SCT) Reaches New 1-Year High After Dividend Announcement

Shares of Softcat plc (LON:SCT) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as GBX 1,836 ($23.81) and last traded at GBX 1,800.06 ($23.34), with a volume of 915201 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at GBX 1,623 ($21.05).

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of GBX 67.50 ($0.88) per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is an increase from Softcat’s previous dividend of $39.00. This represents a dividend yield of 0.55%. Softcat’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Shore Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Softcat in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Softcat from GBX 1,450 ($18.80) to GBX 1,759 ($22.81) and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Berenberg Bank reissued a “hold” rating and issued a GBX 1,600 ($20.75) target price on shares of Softcat in a report on Wednesday.

Softcat Trading Down 2.9 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 1,557.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 1,563.98. The company has a market cap of £3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.12, a P/E/G ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 0.71.

Softcat (LON:SCT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported GBX 28.70 ($0.37) EPS for the quarter. Softcat had a return on equity of 43.79% and a net margin of 12.37%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Softcat plc will post 60.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jacqui Ferguson purchased 3,038 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 1,470 ($19.06) per share, for a total transaction of £44,658.60 ($57,907.94). Also, insider Graham Charlton sold 15,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 1,489 ($19.31), for a total value of £229,008.20 ($296,950.47). Insiders bought a total of 3,067 shares of company stock worth $4,511,098 over the last 90 days. 43.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Softcat Company Profile

Softcat plc operates as a value-added IT reseller and IT infrastructure solutions provider in the United Kingdom. The company advices, procures, designs, implements, and manages technology, such as software licensing, workplace technology, networking, security, and cloud and datacenter for businesses and public sector organizations.