Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Stock Price Down 11% – Here’s Why

Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) shares fell 11% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 59.40 ($0.73) and last traded at GBX 60.17 ($0.74). 3,049,240 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 114% from the average session volume of 1,422,657 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 67.60 ($0.84).

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Smiths News Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of £143.68 million, a PE ratio of 673.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 62.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 59.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of GBX 5.40 ($0.07) per share. This is a boost from Smiths News’s previous dividend of $1.75. This represents a dividend yield of 9.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. Smiths News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5,555.56%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 1,183,423 shares of Smiths News stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total value of £721,888.03 ($892,321.42). Also, insider Deborah Rabey bought 20,663 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 63 ($0.78) per share, with a total value of £13,017.69 ($16,091.09). In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock valued at $121,608,258. 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.