J D Wetherspoon (LON:JDW) Insider Acquires £146.05 in Stock

Key Points

• Insider purchase: Director John Hutson made several small buys recently, most recently 23 shares on April 14 at GBX 635 per share (total £146.05), following purchases in March and February.
• Analyst sentiment is negative-to-cautious: the stock has an average rating of "Reduce" with a consensus price target of GBX 580, and Deutsche Bank has cut its target to GBX 460 with a "Sell" call.
• Valuation and risk: JDW trades at a PE of 11.29 with a market cap of £676m, but shows very high leverage (debt-to-equity 358.49) and weak liquidity (current ratio 0.30), indicating financial risk despite positive ROE.

J D Wetherspoon plc (LON:JDW - Get Free Report) insider John Hutson purchased 23 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 635 per share, with a total value of £146.05.

John Hutson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, March 12th, John Hutson purchased 23 shares of J D Wetherspoon stock. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 671 per share, with a total value of £154.33.
• On Thursday, February 19th, John Hutson purchased 19 shares of J D Wetherspoon stock. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 764 per share, with a total value of £145.16.

J D Wetherspoon Price Performance

Shares of JDW opened at GBX 641.50 on Wednesday. J D Wetherspoon plc has a 1-year low of GBX 530.50 and a 1-year high of GBX 814.50. The stock has a market cap of £676.18 million, a PE ratio of 11.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 663.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of GBX 675.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 358.49, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.19.

J D Wetherspoon (LON:JDW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The company reported GBX 15.50 earnings per share for the quarter. J D Wetherspoon had a net margin of 2.52% and a return on equity of 15.81%. As a group, analysts forecast that J D Wetherspoon plc will post 52.8508772 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Shore Capital Group restated a "hold" rating on shares of J D Wetherspoon in a report on Friday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of J D Wetherspoon from GBX 490 to GBX 460 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of GBX 580.

About J D Wetherspoon

J D Wetherspoon owns and operates pubs and hotels throughout the UK and Ireland. The company aims to provide customers with good-quality food and drinks, served by well-trained and friendly staff, at reasonable prices. The pubs are individually designed, and the company aims to maintain them in excellent condition.

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