St. James's Place (LON:STJ) Trading 11.9% Higher - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Shares of St. James's Place rose by 11.9%, reaching a trading high of GBX 1,308.50 ($17.29) amid increased trading volume.
• Analysts such as JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank have issued upgrade ratings and raised their target prices for the stock, reflecting bullish sentiment.
• St. James's Place reported earnings per share of GBX 52 ($0.69) for the last quarter, with analysts forecasting approximately 68 earnings per share for the current year.

Shares of St. James's Place plc (LON:STJ - Get Free Report) were up 11.9% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as GBX 1,308.50 ($17.37) and last traded at GBX 1,308.50 ($17.37). Approximately 6,267,668 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 28% from the average daily volume of 4,886,323 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 1,169.50 ($15.52).

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on STJ shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of St. James's Place from GBX 1,210 ($16.06) to GBX 1,400 ($18.58) and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of St. James's Place from GBX 1,025 ($13.60) to GBX 1,075 ($14.27) and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a GBX 1,410 ($18.72) price target on shares of St. James's Place in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of St. James's Place from GBX 1,200 ($15.93) to GBX 1,750 ($23.23) and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday.

St. James's Place Stock Down 0.8%

The stock's 50-day moving average price is GBX 1,154.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is GBX 1,051.44. The stock has a market capitalization of £7.02 billion, a PE ratio of -1,087.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 55.10, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a current ratio of 0.60.

St. James's Place (LON:STJ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported GBX 52 ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. St. James's Place had a negative net margin of 0.02% and a negative return on equity of 0.63%. As a group, analysts expect that St. James's Place plc will post 67.9947461 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.