Reckitt Benckiser Group (LON:RKT) Trading 2.6% Higher - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Shares rose 2.6% to GBX 6,289 on Thursday, with about 4.22 million shares traded — roughly 49% below the average session volume.
• Analysts are mixed: MarketBeat's consensus is a Hold with a price target of GBX 6,279, while individual broker notes range from Citigroup's "Buy" (GBX 7,000) to downgrades and trims from others.
• Key fundamentals: market cap £41.35bn, P/E 33.8 and PEG 1.10, but high leverage (debt-to-equity ~110%) and weak liquidity (current ratio 0.69, quick ratio 0.46) which may raise risk considerations.

Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (LON:RKT - Get Free Report) shares traded up 2.6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as GBX 6,300 and last traded at GBX 6,289. 4,216,770 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 8,225,884 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 6,127.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on RKT. Citigroup started coverage on Reckitt Benckiser Group in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a GBX 7,000 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Reckitt Benckiser Group to a "sector perform" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from GBX 6,400 to GBX 6,200 in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Reckitt Benckiser Group from GBX 5,600 to GBX 5,700 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Reckitt Benckiser Group from GBX 5,500 to GBX 6,100 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Reckitt Benckiser Group from GBX 5,500 to GBX 5,700 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of GBX 6,279.29.

Reckitt Benckiser Group Stock Up 2.2%

The company has a market cap of £41.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.83, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.09. The business has a fifty day moving average of GBX 6,033.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 5,801.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 110.26.

Reckitt Benckiser Group Company Profile

At Reckitt, we protect, heal and nurture. We are the company behind some of the world's best known and most trusted Health and Hygiene consumer brands. Delivering for a cleaner, healthier world requires strong brands with a global footprint. From Dettol, Lysol, Durex, Finish, Harpic and Vanish, Mucinex, Nurofen, Gaviscon, Veet and Strepsils, consumers love and rely on our brands to care for their families, as they have done for over 200 years. We use our scientific expertise and deep human understanding to develop solutions to help people improve their lives – that is why over 30 million Reckitt products are sold each day worldwide. At Reckitt, we're all making a real difference to people all over the world, every day.

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