Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Shares Down 9.5% – Should You Sell?

Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) fell 9.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as GBX 59.40 ($0.73) and last traded at GBX 61.20 ($0.75). 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 ($0.83).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Smiths News Stock Down 4.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of £138.46 million, a PE ratio of 648.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average is GBX 63.07 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 59.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a GBX 5.40 ($0.07) dividend. 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 of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. Smiths News’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5,555.56%.

Insider Activity at Smiths News

In related news, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 490,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.74), for a total transaction of £299,247.09 ($365,381.06). Also, 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 value of £194,947.46 ($238,031.09). In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock valued at $121,608,258. Corporate 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.