Intertek Group (LON:ITRK) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Shares of Intertek reached a new 52-week high after Royal Bank of Canada upgraded the stock to Outperform and raised its price target to GBX 5,850 (from GBX 4,475); the stock traded as high as GBX 5,270 and last at GBX 5,120.
• Analyst sentiment is a Moderate Buy with four Buy ratings and two Holds, and a consensus price target of GBX 5,266.17.
• Insiders have been buying recently—including purchases by Andrew Martin and Kawal Preet—and insiders acquired 4,479 shares valued at about $17.6 million over the past 90 days, with insiders owning 1.18% of the stock.

Shares of Intertek Group plc (LON:ITRK - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded the stock to an outperform rating. Royal Bank Of Canada now has a GBX 5,850 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of GBX 4,475. Intertek Group traded as high as GBX 5,270 and last traded at GBX 5,120, with a volume of 28682104 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 4,804.

ITRK has been the subject of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "hold" rating and set a GBX 5,030 price objective on shares of Intertek Group in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a GBX 4,800 price objective on shares of Intertek Group in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Intertek Group from GBX 5,847 to GBX 5,717 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of GBX 5,266.17.

Insider Activity at Intertek Group

In related news, insider Andrew Martin purchased 485 shares of Intertek Group stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 3,794 per share, for a total transaction of £18,400.90. Also, insider Kawal Preet purchased 160 shares of Intertek Group stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of GBX 3,710 per share, with a total value of £5,936. Insiders acquired a total of 4,479 shares of company stock valued at $17,624,681 over the last 90 days. 1.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Intertek Group Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 152.20, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of £7.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.94, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.81. The business's fifty day simple moving average is GBX 4,138.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 4,490.23.

Intertek Group (LON:ITRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The company reported GBX 255.90 EPS for the quarter. Intertek Group had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 31.07%. On average, research analysts forecast that Intertek Group plc will post 263.7305699 EPS for the current year.

Intertek Group Company Profile

Intertek is a leading Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide. Our network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices in more than 100 countries, delivers innovative and bespoke Assurance, Testing, Inspection and Certification solutions for our customers' operations and supply chains. Intertek is a purpose-led company to Bring Quality, Safety and Sustainability to Life. We provide 24/7 mission-critical quality assurance solutions to our clients to ensure that they can operate with well-functioning supply chains in each of their operations. Our Customer Promise is: Intertek Total Quality Assurance expertise, delivered consistently, with precision, pace and passion, enabling our customers to power ahead safely.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.