Diageo plc (LON:DGE) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Diageo plc (LON:DGE - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is GBX 2,993.33 ($37.20).

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group upgraded Diageo to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from GBX 2,300 ($28.58) to GBX 2,920 ($36.29) in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Diageo to a "buy" rating and set a GBX 2,800 ($34.80) target price for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th.

Diageo Stock Down 3.9 %

LON:DGE traded down GBX 99 ($1.23) on Friday, hitting GBX 2,448.50 ($30.43). 3,040,908 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,090,145. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 2,452.82 and a 200-day moving average price of GBX 2,492.59. Diageo has a 52 week low of GBX 2,165.60 ($26.91) and a 52 week high of GBX 3,056 ($37.98). The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 186.26, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of £54.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,854.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Javier Ferrán acquired 324 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 2,531 ($31.45) per share, for a total transaction of £8,200.44 ($10,190.68). Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,015 shares of company stock valued at $2,476,438. 0.11% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Diageo

Diageo plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production, marketing, and sale of alcoholic beverages. It offers scotch, gin, vodka, rum, raki, liqueur, wine, tequila, Chinese white spirits, cachaça, and brandy, as well as beer, including cider and flavoured malt beverages. The company also provides Canadian, Irish, American, and Indian-Made Foreign Liquor whiskies, as well as ready to drink and non-alcoholic products.