Nichols (LON:NICL) Sets New 1-Year High - What's Next?

Shares of Nichols plc (LON:NICL - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as GBX 1,444 ($19.61) and last traded at GBX 1,400 ($19.01), with a volume of 37297 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 1,415 ($19.22).

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Berenberg Bank reissued a "buy" rating and set a GBX 1,760 ($23.90) target price on shares of Nichols in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Nichols Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of GBX 1,249.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 1,278.73. The company has a market cap of £511.34 million, a PE ratio of 27.32 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 3.73, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

Nichols (LON:NICL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The company reported GBX 64.02 ($0.87) earnings per share for the quarter. Nichols had a return on equity of 18.96% and a net margin of 11.07%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nichols plc will post 62.4371859 EPS for the current year.

Nichols Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a GBX 17.10 ($0.23) dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. Nichols's payout ratio is currently 60.49%.

About Nichols

Established in 1908, Nichols operates within the resilient soft drinks category and owns or licenses several brands. Nichols is geographically and operationally diversified, operating across three routes to market of UK Packaged, International Packaged and Out of Home. In the UK, Nichols operates across five soft drinks sub-categories: squash, flavoured carbonates, fruit drinks, energy and flavoured water.