Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Shares Down 9.5% – Here’s Why

Posted by Eileen French on Jan 9th, 2025

Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS – Get Free Report) fell 9.5% on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 59.40 ($0.73) and last traded at GBX 61.20 ($0.76). Approximately 1,615,870 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 37% from the average session volume of 1,183,762 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 67.60 ($0.84).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 95 ($1.17) target price on shares of Smiths News in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Get Our Latest Analysis on SNWS

Smiths News Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 62.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 59.83. The firm has a market capitalization of £145.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 680.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a GBX 5.40 ($0.07) dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 9.47%. This is a boost 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 is 5,555.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Deborah Rabey purchased 20,663 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 63 ($0.78) per share, for a total transaction of £13,017.69 ($16,091.09). Also, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 490,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total value of £299,247.09 ($369,897.52). Insiders have sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock valued at $121,608,258 in the last ninety days. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Smiths News Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.