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

Posted by Michael Walen on Jan 9th, 2025

Smiths News plc (LON:SNWS – Get Free Report) was down 9.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 59.40 ($0.73) and last traded at GBX 61.20 ($0.76). Approximately 1,615,870 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 37% from the average daily volume of 1,183,762 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 67.60 ($0.84).

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Get Our Latest Research Report on Smiths News

Smiths News Stock Down 9.5 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of GBX 62.96 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 59.83. The company has a market cap of £145.10 million, a P/E ratio of 680.00, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.83.

Smiths News Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jonathan Bunting sold 1,183,423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total transaction of £721,888.03 ($892,321.42). Also, insider Paul Baker sold 319,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 61 ($0.75), for a total value of £194,947.46 ($240,973.37). Insiders sold a total of 1,993,578 shares of company stock valued at $121,608,258 over the last three months. 13.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Smiths News

(Get Free Report)

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.