St. James's Place (LON:STJ) Trading Up 11.9% - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• St. James's Place plc shares surged 11.9% during mid-day trading, reaching GBX 1,308.50 ($17.29). The trading volume increased by 28% compared to the average daily volume.
• Several analysts have upgraded their price targets for St. James's Place, with Deutsche Bank raising it to GBX 1,750 ($23.12) and Citigroup increasing theirs to GBX 1,400 ($18.49), both giving the stock a "buy" rating.
• The company reported a negative net margin of 0.02% and a negative return on equity of 0.63%, while analysts predict an EPS of 67.99 for the current year.

St. James's Place plc (LON:STJ - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 11.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock 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 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 ($15.53).

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on STJ shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of St. James's Place from GBX 1,025 ($13.61) to GBX 1,075 ($14.27) and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on St. James's Place from GBX 1,200 ($15.93) to GBX 1,750 ($23.24) and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup increased their price objective on St. James's Place from GBX 1,210 ($16.07) to GBX 1,400 ($18.59) and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a GBX 1,410 ($18.72) price objective on shares of St. James's Place in a report on Tuesday, July 8th.

St. James's Place Stock Up 4.3%

The firm's 50-day simple moving average is GBX 1,154.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 1,053.81. The company has a market cap of £7.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -1,124.79, a PEG 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 earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported GBX 52 ($0.69) earnings per share for the quarter. St. James's Place had a negative net margin of 0.02% and a negative return on equity of 0.63%. On average, research analysts forecast that St. James's Place plc will post 67.9947461 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

St. James's Place Company Profile

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.