Wickes Group (LON:WIX) Hits New 52-Week High Following Dividend Announcement

Wickes Group plc (LON:WIX) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as GBX 186 ($2.40) and last traded at GBX 182.77 ($2.36), with a volume of 1855642 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at GBX 171.60 ($2.22).

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be issued a dividend of GBX 7.30 ($0.09) per share. This is an increase from Wickes Group’s previous dividend of $3.60. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 24th. This represents a dividend yield of 4.01%. Wickes Group’s payout ratio is currently 88.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Shore Capital reiterated a “not rated” rating on shares of Wickes Group in a research note on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 198 ($2.56) price objective on shares of Wickes Group in a report on Thursday.

Wickes Group Trading Down 4.6 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 456.98. The company’s fifty day moving average is GBX 167.58 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 161.52. The firm has a market capitalization of £411.03 million, a P/E ratio of 14.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.78.

Wickes Group (LON:WIX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The company reported GBX 14.10 ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter. Wickes Group had a net margin of 2.01% and a return on equity of 19.39%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wickes Group plc will post 16.2278978 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Wickes Group

Wickes is one of the UK’s best known home improvement retailers. Having opened our first store in 1972 we now have over 230 stores across the UK, employing 8,500 colleagues and offering products ranging from kitchens and bathrooms, to paint, tools and timber.

Wickes is a successful, growing, cash generative and profitable business, operating in the large and growing £25 billion UK Home Improvement market.