Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Stock Price Down 9.8% – Should You Sell?

Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) shares traded down 9.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as GBX 59.40 ($0.73) and last traded at GBX 61 ($0.74). 3,662,190 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 140% from the average session volume of 1,524,815 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 67.60 ($0.83).

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Smiths News Stock Down 4.6 %

The firm has a market cap of £138.46 million, a P/E ratio of 648.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 63.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of GBX 59.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Smiths News

In other news, insider Deborah Rabey acquired 20,663 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of GBX 63 ($0.77) per share, for a total transaction of £13,017.69 ($15,894.62). Also, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 1,183,423 shares of the company’s 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 value of £721,888.03 ($881,426.17). Insiders sold a total of 1,993,578 shares of company stock valued at $121,608,258 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

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.