J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) Insider Sells 560,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Insider sale: J Sainsbury director Simon Roberts sold 560,000 shares at GBX 350 each, worth approximately £1.96 million. He also sold 346,154 shares in August for about £1.15 million.
• Share buyback: The company authorized a £100 million repurchase program, allowing it to buy back up to 1.3% of its outstanding shares—potentially signaling that management views the stock as undervalued.
• Analyst outlook: J Sainsbury has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of GBX 360.17, compared with a recent trading price of GBX 345. The company reported quarterly EPS of GBX 9.50.

J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY - Get Free Report) insider Simon Roberts sold 560,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 350, for a total transaction of £1,960,000.

Simon Roberts also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, August 18th, Simon Roberts sold 346,154 shares of J Sainsbury stock. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 333, for a total transaction of £1,152,692.82.

J Sainsbury Price Performance

LON:SBRY traded down GBX 8.20 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching GBX 345. 33,181,211 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,489,809. J Sainsbury plc has a 1-year low of GBX 293.70 and a 1-year high of GBX 380.30. The business has a 50 day moving average of GBX 337.52 and a 200 day moving average of GBX 333.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 115.36, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of £7.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.00.

J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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%. Research analysts forecast that J Sainsbury plc will post 25.72 EPS for the current year.

J Sainsbury announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, October 23rd that allows the company to repurchase £100 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the grocer to buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Share buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SBRY has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of J Sainsbury from GBX 330 to GBX 346 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating and issued a GBX 390 price objective on shares of J Sainsbury in a report on Friday. Shore Capital Group reaffirmed a "house stock" rating on shares of J Sainsbury in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and set a GBX 310 price target on shares of J Sainsbury in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a GBX 375 price objective on shares of J Sainsbury in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of GBX 360.17.

J Sainsbury Company Profile

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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