Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Stock Price Down 9.5% - What's Next?

Shares of Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS - Get Free Report) dropped 9.5% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as GBX 59.40 ($0.73) and last traded at GBX 61.20 ($0.75). Approximately 1,615,870 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 37% from the average daily volume of 1,183,762 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 67.60 ($0.83).

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a GBX 95 ($1.17) target price on shares of Smiths News in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Smiths News Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of £145.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 680.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83. The stock's fifty day moving average is GBX 63.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 59.84.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 490,569 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total transaction of £299,247.09 ($368,213.47). Also, insider Deborah Rabey bought 20,663 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 63 ($0.78) per share, for a total transaction of £13,017.69 ($16,017.83). Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock worth $121,608,258. 13.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.