Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Trading Down 7.8% – Here’s What Happened

Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) fell 7.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as GBX 61 ($0.74) and last traded at GBX 62.32 ($0.76). 2,128,450 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 68% from the average session volume of 1,269,192 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 67.60 ($0.83).

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Smiths News Trading Down 4.6 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is GBX 63.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 59.83. The company has a market cap of £138.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 648.89, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83.

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 paid 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 an increase from Smiths News’s previous dividend of $1.75. Smiths News’s payout ratio is presently 5,555.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smiths News

In other news, insider Paul Baker sold 319,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.74), for a total transaction of £194,947.46 ($238,031.09). Also, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 490,569 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.74), for a total transaction of £299,247.09 ($365,381.06). Insiders have sold a total of 1,993,578 shares of company stock worth $121,608,258 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

About Smiths News

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.