Wickes Group (LON:WIX) Reaches New 1-Year High - Still a Buy?

Shares of Wickes Group plc (LON:WIX - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as GBX 213.70 ($2.84) and last traded at GBX 213 ($2.83), with a volume of 2610398 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 197.20 ($2.62).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on WIX. Shore Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Wickes Group in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a GBX 198 ($2.63) target price on shares of Wickes Group in a research note on Thursday, March 20th.

Wickes Group Trading Up 0.7%

The company's fifty day simple moving average is GBX 183.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 167.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 456.98. The company has a market capitalization of £511.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.78.

Wickes Group (LON:WIX - Get Free Report) last released 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%. Research analysts forecast that Wickes Group plc will post 16.2278978 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wickes Group Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Wickes Group news, insider David Wood sold 58,445 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 172 ($2.28), for a total value of £100,525.40 ($133,535.33). Insiders own 7.16% of the company's stock.

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.