Bunzl (LON:BNZL) Trading Down 26.1% – Time to Sell?

Bunzl plc (LON:BNZL)’s stock price traded down 26.1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 2,252 ($29.80) and last traded at GBX 2,276 ($30.12). 120,840,211 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 2,917% from the average session volume of 4,005,844 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 3,078 ($40.74).

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BNZL shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bunzl to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Shore Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bunzl in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a GBX 2,800 ($37.06) price objective on shares of Bunzl in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of GBX 3,375 ($44.67).

Bunzl Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 123.00. The company has a market capitalization of £7.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73, a P/E/G ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 3,114.16 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 3,338.11.

Bunzl (LON:BNZL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported GBX 194.30 ($2.57) EPS for the quarter. Bunzl had a net margin of 4.20% and a return on equity of 16.82%. On average, equities analysts predict that Bunzl plc will post 213.3413462 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bunzl Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a GBX 53.80 ($0.71) dividend. This is an increase from Bunzl’s previous dividend of $20.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a dividend yield of 1.8%. Bunzl’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bunzl news, insider Frank van Zanten purchased 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 3,037 ($40.19) per share, for a total transaction of £121,480 ($160,772.90). 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bunzl Company Profile

Bunzl plc operates as a distribution and services company in the North America, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company offers food packaging, films, labels, cleaning and hygiene supplies, and personal protection equipment to grocery stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores.