Wickes Group plc (LON:WIX) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Wickes Group plc (LON:WIX) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is GBX 249.17.

WIX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Shore Capital Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Wickes Group in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Wickes Group from GBX 275 to GBX 278 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Citigroup upped their target price on Wickes Group from GBX 200 to GBX 227 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Berenberg Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 280 target price on shares of Wickes Group in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Wickes Group from GBX 250 to GBX 265 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th.

Wickes Group Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of LON:WIX opened at GBX 221 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is GBX 226.57 and its 200 day moving average is GBX 226.64. Wickes Group has a 1 year low of GBX 181.20 and a 1 year high of GBX 255. The firm has a market capitalization of £497.34 million, a P/E ratio of 13.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 551.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Wickes Group (LON:WIX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 17th. The company reported GBX 17.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Wickes Group had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 2.35%. On average, research analysts predict that Wickes Group will post 16.2278978 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Wickes Group

In other news, insider Mark George sold 223,433 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 220, for a total value of £491,552.60. Also, insider David Wood sold 355,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 223, for a total value of £791,761.50. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Wickes Group

Wickes is one of the UK’s best known home improvement retailers. Having opened our first store in 1972 we now have 228 stores across the UK, employing 7,400 colleagues and offering products ranging from kitchens and bathrooms, to paint, tools and timber.

Wickes is a successful, growing, cash generative and profitable business, operating in the large and growing £27 billion UK Home Improvement market. Over the past few years Wickes has consistently outperformed the market, growing share and delivering a CAGR growth rate double that of the market.

At Wickes, we have a clear purpose, which is to ‘help the nation feel house proud’, and we do this by focusing on our three customer segments – Local Trade, Do-it-for-me and DIY retail.