AJ Bell (LON:AJB) Stock Price Down 1.1% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• AJ Bell plc (LON:AJB) experienced a 1.1% decrease in share price during mid-day trading, with the stock trading at GBX 509 ($6.90) and a significant drop in trading volume of 76% compared to its average.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed ratings for AJ Bell, with one "sell," two "hold," and two "buy" ratings; the average target price stands at GBX 495 ($6.71).
• The company has a market capitalization of £2.10 billion and reports a high debt-to-equity ratio of 6.46, indicating financial leverage concerns.

AJ Bell plc (LON:AJB - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 1.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as GBX 509 ($6.85) and last traded at GBX 509 ($6.85). 359,036 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 1,482,297 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 514.50 ($6.92).

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AJB. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of AJ Bell from GBX 440 to GBX 460 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on shares of AJ Bell from GBX 420 to GBX 490 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Shore Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a GBX 550 price target on shares of AJ Bell in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of AJ Bell from GBX 410 to GBX 440 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AJ Bell has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of GBX 501.

AJ Bell Trading Up 0.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.46, a current ratio of 3.63 and a quick ratio of 7.16. The business's 50 day moving average is GBX 513.80 and its 200 day moving average is GBX 461.22. The stock has a market cap of £2.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.19, a P/E/G ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 0.99.

Insider Activity at AJ Bell

In other news, insider Michael Thomas Summersgill bought 85,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 513 per share, for a total transaction of £436,050. Insiders own 29.60% of the company's stock.

About AJ Bell

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.