Spectris (LON:SXS) Sets New 52-Week Low - Should You Sell?

Shares of Spectris plc (LON:SXS - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 2,285.58 ($29.46) and last traded at GBX 2,304 ($29.70), with a volume of 400832 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 2,318 ($29.88).

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SXS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Shore Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Spectris in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Berenberg Bank cut their price objective on shares of Spectris from GBX 3,180 ($40.99) to GBX 3,000 ($38.67) and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of GBX 3,765 ($48.53).

Spectris Stock Down 3.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.37, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 2.36. The company has a market capitalization of £2.04 billion, a PE ratio of 7.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.61. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is GBX 2,718.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 2,621.81.

Spectris (LON:SXS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The company reported GBX 148.10 ($1.91) earnings per share for the quarter. Spectris had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 20.13%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Spectris plc will post 194.7972456 earnings per share for the current year.

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Spectris Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of GBX 56.60 ($0.73) per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This is a boost from Spectris's previous dividend of $26.60. This represents a yield of 2.25%. Spectris's payout ratio is currently 30.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Andrew Heath sold 8,848 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 2,532 ($32.64), for a total value of £224,031.36 ($288,774.63). Also, insider Derek Harding bought 3,741 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 2,085 ($26.88) per share, for a total transaction of £77,999.85 ($100,541.18). Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 3,758 shares of company stock worth $7,846,119. 1.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Spectris

The experts in providing insight through precision measurement. Our purpose is to deliver value beyond measure – going beyond just the measurement. Precision is at the heart of what we do. Spectris provides global customers with specialist insight through our high-tech instruments and test equipment, augmented by the power of our software. Through a combination of our hardware, analytical and simulation software, we provide our customers with superior data and invaluable insights that enable them to work faster, smarter and more efficiently. This equips them with the ability to reduce time to market, improve processes, quality and yield.