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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 95 ($1.16) price objective on shares of Smiths News in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Smiths News Stock Down 4.6 %

The firm has a market capitalization of £138.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 648.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of GBX 63.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 59.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 1,183,423 shares of Smiths News stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.74), for a total transaction of £721,888.03 ($881,426.17). Also, insider Paul Baker sold 319,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.74), for a total value of £194,947.46 ($238,031.09). Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock worth $121,608,258. 13.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Smiths News Company Profile

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.