Wickes Group (LON:WIX) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Wickes Group plc (LON:WIX)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as GBX 218.50 ($2.92) and last traded at GBX 218.50 ($2.92), with a volume of 218891 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at GBX 214 ($2.86).

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Shore Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Wickes Group in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 198 ($2.64) price objective on shares of Wickes Group in a research report on Thursday, March 20th.

Wickes Group Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is GBX 185.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 167.89. The firm has a market capitalization of £517.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 456.98, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Wickes Group (LON:WIX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The company reported GBX 14.10 ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter. Wickes Group had a net margin of 2.01% and a return on equity of 19.39%. Analysts forecast that Wickes Group plc will post 16.2278978 earnings per share for the current year.

Wickes Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 24th will be issued a dividend of GBX 7.30 ($0.10) per share. This represents a yield of 4.01%. This is a positive change from Wickes Group’s previous dividend of $3.60. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 24th. Wickes Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.93%.

Insider Activity at Wickes Group

In other Wickes Group news, insider David Wood sold 58,445 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 172 ($2.30), for a total transaction of £100,525.40 ($134,266.60). Company insiders own 7.16% of the company’s stock.

Wickes Group Company Profile

Wickes is one of the UK’s best known home improvement retailers. Having opened our first store in 1972 we now have over 230 stores across the UK, employing 8,500 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 £25 billion UK Home Improvement market.