Bunzl (LON:BNZL) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Shares of Bunzl plc (LON:BNZL) hit a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as GBX 2,866 ($36.94) and last traded at GBX 2,918 ($37.61), with a volume of 1340089 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at GBX 3,010 ($38.80).

Analyst Ratings Changes

BNZL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Shore Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bunzl in a report on Monday, March 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a GBX 2,800 ($36.09) price objective on shares of Bunzl in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Bunzl to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bunzl presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of GBX 3,375 ($43.50).

Bunzl Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of £9.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 3,197.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 3,373.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 123.00.

Bunzl (LON:BNZL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported GBX 194.30 ($2.50) EPS for the quarter. Bunzl had a return on equity of 16.82% and a net margin of 4.20%. On average, analysts forecast that Bunzl plc will post 213.3413462 earnings per share for the current year.

Bunzl Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of GBX 53.80 ($0.69) per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This is a boost from Bunzl’s previous dividend of $20.10. This represents a dividend yield of 1.8%. Bunzl’s dividend payout ratio is 48.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bunzl news, insider Frank van Zanten purchased 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 3,037 ($39.15) per share, for a total transaction of £121,480 ($156,586.75). 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Bunzl

Bunzl plc operates as a distribution and services company in the North America, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company offers food packaging, films, labels, cleaning and hygiene supplies, and personal protection equipment to grocery stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores.