Smiths News (LON:SNWS) Stock Price Down 9.5% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS) fell 9.5% on Thursday . The company 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 mid-day 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 Ratings Changes

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

Smiths News Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of £138.46 million, a PE ratio of 648.89, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 63.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 59.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a GBX 5.40 ($0.07) dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. This represents a yield of 9.47%. This is a boost from Smiths News’s previous dividend of $1.75. Smiths News’s payout ratio is presently 5,555.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smiths News

In related news, insider Paul Baker sold 319,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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). Also, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 490,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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). Insiders sold 1,993,578 shares of company stock valued at $121,608,258 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

About Smiths News

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.