J Sainsbury plc (SBRY.L) - What Are Investment Firms Thinking About This Stock?

J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is GBX 356.

SBRY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a GBX 375 price target on shares of J Sainsbury in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Shore Capital Group reiterated a "house stock" rating on shares of J Sainsbury in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of J Sainsbury from GBX 330 to GBX 346 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a GBX 310 target price on shares of J Sainsbury in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of J Sainsbury to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the company from GBX 390 to GBX 365 in a research report on Tuesday.

J Sainsbury Stock Performance

LON:SBRY opened at GBX 338.60 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of £7.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.00. J Sainsbury has a 1 year low of GBX 293.70 and a 1 year high of GBX 380.30. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is GBX 337.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 333.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 115.36, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The grocer reported GBX 9.50 EPS for the quarter. J Sainsbury had a return on equity of 6.39% and a net margin of 1.15%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that J Sainsbury will post 25.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J Sainsbury declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, October 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase £100 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the grocer to buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Katie Bickerstaffe acquired 5,732 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 347 per share, for a total transaction of £19,890.04. Also, insider Simon Roberts sold 560,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 350, for a total value of £1,960,000. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

About J Sainsbury

J Sainsbury plc is one of the UK's leading food, general merchandise and clothing retailers. Offering delicious, great quality food at competitive prices has been at the heart of what we do since we opened our first store in 1869. Today, inspiring and delighting our customers with tasty food remains our priority. Our purpose is that driven by our passion for food, together we serve and help every customer. Our focus on great value food and convenient shopping, whether in-store or online is supported by our brands – Argos, Habitat, Tu, Nectar and Sainsbury's Bank.

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