Ashtead Group plc (LON:AHT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Ashtead Group plc (LON:AHT) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is GBX 6,840 ($88.47).

AHT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ashtead Group from GBX 6,600 ($85.37) to GBX 7,300 ($94.43) and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Berenberg Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 7,000 ($90.54) target price on shares of Ashtead Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 6,800 ($87.96) target price on shares of Ashtead Group in a research note on Monday, December 16th.

Ashtead Group Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of AHT opened at GBX 4,345 ($56.20) on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 146.30. Ashtead Group has a 12-month low of GBX 4,244 ($54.90) and a 12-month high of GBX 6,448 ($83.40). The firm has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 4,967.95 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 5,416.29. The firm has a market capitalization of £23.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22.

Ashtead Group (LON:AHT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported GBX 77.20 ($1.00) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Ashtead Group had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 21.43%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ashtead Group will post 363.5658915 EPS for the current year.

Ashtead Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 9th. Ashtead Group’s payout ratio is 28.47%.

Ashtead Group Company Profile

Ashtead Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the construction, industrial, and general equipment rental business in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. It provides pumps, power generation, heating, cooling, scaffolding, traffic management, temporary flooring, trench shoring, and lifting services.