Wickes Group (LON:WIX) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Wickes Group plc (LON:WIX - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday after Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on the stock from GBX 198 to GBX 250. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Wickes Group traded as high as GBX 218.50 ($2.96) and last traded at GBX 218.50 ($2.96), with a volume of 218891 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 214 ($2.90).

Separately, Shore Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Wickes Group in a report on Tuesday, May 6th.

Insider Transactions at Wickes Group

In other Wickes Group news, insider David Wood sold 58,445 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 172 ($2.33), for a total transaction of £100,525.40 ($136,084.20). Insiders own 7.16% of the company's stock.

Wickes Group Trading Down 0.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 456.98, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company has a market cap of £519.71 million, a PE ratio of 17.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.78. The company's 50 day simple moving average is GBX 189.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 169.56.

Wickes Group (LON:WIX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The company reported GBX 14.10 ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter. Wickes Group had a net margin of 2.01% and a return on equity of 19.39%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wickes Group plc will post 16.2278978 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wickes Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be paid a GBX 7.30 ($0.10) dividend. This is a positive change from Wickes Group's previous dividend of $3.60. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 24th. This represents a dividend yield of 4.01%. Wickes Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.93%.

About Wickes Group

Wickes is one of the UK's best known home improvement retailers. Having opened our first store in 1972 we now have over 230 stores across the UK, employing 8,500 colleagues and offering products ranging from kitchens and bathrooms, to paint, tools and timber. Wickes is a successful, growing, cash generative and profitable business, operating in the large and growing £25 billion UK Home Improvement market.