Associated British Foods (LON:ABF) Trading Down 13.2% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Associated British Foods' shares dropped 13.2% on Wednesday, reaching a low of GBX 1,928.50 ($26.09) before closing at GBX 1,945.50 ($26.32).
• Several analysts have mixed ratings on the stock, with Shore Capital maintaining a "buy" rating while Deutsche Bank lowered its target price and issued a "sell" rating.
• The company has a market capitalization of £13.84 billion and operates in 53 countries, focusing on food and retail.

Associated British Foods plc (LON:ABF - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 13.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 1,928.50 ($26.23) and last traded at GBX 1,945.50 ($26.47). 2,909,437 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 24% from the average session volume of 3,829,985 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 2,241 ($30.49).

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on ABF. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Associated British Foods to a "sell" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from GBX 2,220 to GBX 2,130 in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Shore Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Associated British Foods in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Associated British Foods currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of GBX 2,215.

Associated British Foods Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of £13.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,106.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.24. The company's fifty day simple moving average is GBX 2,190.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 2,082.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Eoin Tonge sold 16,741 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 2,070, for a total transaction of £346,538.70. 1.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Associated British Foods

Associated British Foods is a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group with sales of £13.9bn, 128,000 employees and operations in 53 countries across Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia and Australia. Our purpose is to provide safe, nutritious, affordable food, and clothing that is great value for money.