WPP (LON:WPP) Hits New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Shares of WPP plc (LON:WPP) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 603 ($7.76) and last traded at GBX 604.80 ($7.79), with a volume of 9014023 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 611.60 ($7.87).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on WPP from GBX 1,040 ($13.39) to GBX 960 ($12.36) and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

WPP Stock Down 1.2 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 215.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is GBX 708.71 and its 200 day moving average price is GBX 772.25. The firm has a market cap of £6.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.47 and a beta of 1.13.

WPP (LON:WPP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported GBX 50.30 ($0.65) EPS for the quarter. WPP had a net margin of 1.37% and a return on equity of 5.92%. As a group, research analysts expect that WPP plc will post 81.6125654 earnings per share for the current year.

WPP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a GBX 24.40 ($0.31) dividend. This is a boost from WPP’s previous dividend of $15.00. This represents a yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. WPP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 206.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at WPP

In other WPP news, insider Joanne Wilson sold 23,371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 640 ($8.24), for a total transaction of £149,574.40 ($192,576.80). Also, insider Andrew Scott sold 50,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 634 ($8.16), for a total transaction of £320,119.28 ($412,153.06). 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About WPP

WPP is the creative transformation company, using the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities.

At WPP we’re reinventing creativity on an ever-broader canvas, bringing together unrivalled talent, resources and skills to provide an integrated offer of communications, experience, commerce and technology for clients.