St. James's Place (LON:STJ) Reaches New 12-Month Low - What's Next?

Key Points

• St. James’s Place shares hit a new 52-week low, falling to GBX 1,038.50 during Thursday trading, below the previous close of GBX 1,063.50.
• Despite the decline, analysts remain broadly positive: five rate the stock a Buy and two rate it Hold, with an average price target of GBX 1,721.86—well above its recent trading level.
• Insiders purchased 6,000 shares during the last quarter, while the company reported quarterly EPS of GBX 43.30 and maintains a market capitalization of approximately £5.21 billion.

St. James's Place plc (LON:STJ - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as GBX 1,038.50 and last traded at GBX 1,038.96, with a volume of 2867704 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 1,063.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STJ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a GBX 2,050 price objective on shares of St. James's Place in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup dropped their target price on St. James's Place from GBX 1,830 to GBX 1,820 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on St. James's Place from GBX 1,800 to GBX 1,945 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a GBX 1,700 price objective on shares of St. James's Place in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of GBX 1,721.86.

St. James's Place Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of £5.21 billion, a PE ratio of 9.76, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.01. The business's 50-day simple moving average is GBX 1,128.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 1,179.45. The company has a quick ratio of 3.85, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.04.

St. James's Place (LON:STJ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported GBX 43.30 earnings per share for the quarter. St. James's Place had a net margin of 1.25% and a return on equity of 37.02%. On average, research analysts expect that St. James's Place plc will post 67.9947461 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at St. James's Place

In other St. James's Place news, insider Evelyn Bourke bought 2,374 shares of St. James's Place stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 1,053 per share, with a total value of £24,998.22. Also, insider Paul Manduca bought 3,624 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 1,098 per share, with a total value of £39,791.52. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 6,000 shares of company stock valued at $6,481,224. Company insiders own 1.22% of the company's stock.

About St. James's Place

We plan, grow and protect the financial futures of over one million clients across the UK by providing holistic advice-led wealth management, delivered exclusively by the Partnership, our group of more than 4,900 highly skilled advisers. We offer an integrated client proposition, through which we provide financial advice, investment product wrappers such as pensions, investment bonds and ISAs, and offer our own range of investment funds and portfolios.

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