Jefferies Financial Group Reaffirms Hold Rating for Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB)

Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reiterated by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $9.15 price target on the business services provider's stock, down from their prior price target of $11.00. Jefferies Financial Group's target price indicates a potential upside of 2.52% from the company's current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on DNB. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $12.00 price target on shares of Dun & Bradstreet in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Dun & Bradstreet from $12.80 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Dun & Bradstreet in a research note on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $11.86.

Dun & Bradstreet Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DNB traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $8.93. 8,152,380 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,911,396. The company has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -148.73, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The company's 50-day moving average is $9.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.20. Dun & Bradstreet has a 1 year low of $7.78 and a 1 year high of $12.95.

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Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.05). Dun & Bradstreet had a positive return on equity of 11.29% and a negative net margin of 1.20%. The firm had revenue of $631.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $658.04 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Dun & Bradstreet will post 0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Dun & Bradstreet

In related news, Chairman William P. Foley II sold 2,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.99, for a total transaction of $22,475,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 8,109,644 shares in the company, valued at $72,905,699.56. This represents a 23.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 10.44% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Dun & Bradstreet by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 5,158 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Dun & Bradstreet during the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in Dun & Bradstreet during the third quarter valued at approximately $117,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Dun & Bradstreet in the fourth quarter worth $127,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Dun & Bradstreet in the 3rd quarter worth about $120,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.68% of the company's stock.

About Dun & Bradstreet

Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc engages in providing business decisioning data and analytics solutions. The firm is involved in providing information with its solutions to support its clients with critical business operations. It offers end-to-end solutions to clients in the small business, finance, sales & marketing, third party risk & compliance, and public sectors.