AJ Bell (LON:AJB) Trading 1% Higher - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• AJ Bell shares rose 1% to GBX 603, with trading volume reaching 14.1 million shares—127% above the average session volume.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: three analysts rate the stock a Buy and five rate it Hold. The overall consensus is Hold, despite several analysts raising their price targets.
• AJ Bell reported quarterly revenue of £182.96 million and earnings of GBX 14.70 per share, alongside a 57.35% return on equity and 35.42% net margin.

Shares of AJ Bell plc (LON:AJB - Get Free Report) shot up 1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as GBX 607.70 and last traded at GBX 603. 14,116,185 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 127% from the average session volume of 6,228,917 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 597.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a GBX 625 price target on shares of AJ Bell in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of AJ Bell from GBX 600 to GBX 675 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on shares of AJ Bell from GBX 560 to GBX 590 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of AJ Bell from GBX 500 to GBX 510 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of AJ Bell from GBX 5,200 to GBX 6,000 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AJ Bell currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of GBX 1,265.

AJ Bell Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of GBX 605.55 and a 200 day moving average of GBX 538.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.73, a quick ratio of 7.16 and a current ratio of 109.52. The firm has a market cap of £2.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 0.87.

AJ Bell (LON:AJB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported GBX 14.70 earnings per share for the quarter. AJ Bell had a return on equity of 57.35% and a net margin of 35.42%.The firm had revenue of £182.96 million for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AJ Bell plc will post 23.8118812 EPS for the current year.

AJ Bell Company Profile

Established in 1995, AJ Bell is one of the largest investment platforms in the UK, operating at scale in both the advised and direct-to-consumer markets. Our purpose is to help people invest by providing them with easy access to Pensions, ISAs and General investment accounts, great customer service and competitive charges. Our two core platform propositions are AJ Bell in the D2C market and AJ Bell Investcentre in the advised market, which both provide access to a broad investment range including shares and other instruments traded on the major stock exchanges around the world, as well as all mainstream collective investments available in the UK and our own range of AJ Bell funds.

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