Shore Capital Reaffirms Not Rated Rating for WH Smith (LON:SMWH)

Shore Capital restated their not rated rating on shares of WH Smith (LON:SMWH) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Separately, Berenberg Bank reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 1,600 ($21.27) price target on shares of WH Smith in a research note on Friday, February 28th.

WH Smith Price Performance

SMWH stock opened at GBX 931 ($12.38) on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 253.13, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of £1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 1,064.10 and a 200-day moving average price of GBX 1,200.76. WH Smith has a 52-week low of GBX 872.50 ($11.60) and a 52-week high of GBX 1,499 ($19.93).

WH Smith (LON:SMWH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The company reported GBX 23.40 ($0.31) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. WH Smith had a return on equity of 17.78% and a net margin of 3.44%. Equities research analysts forecast that WH Smith will post 100.9372747 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WH Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th were issued a dividend of GBX 22.60 ($0.30) per share. This is an increase from WH Smith’s previous dividend of $11.00. This represents a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 16th. WH Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Annette Court purchased 1,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 918 ($12.21) per share, for a total transaction of £10,006.20 ($13,304.35). 1.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About WH Smith

WH Smith PLC operates as a retailer in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates in two segments, Travel and High Street. The Travel segment offers news, books, and convenience for travelling customers. It operates stores in airports, hospitals, railway stations, and motorway service areas.