Wickes Group's (WIX) Buy Rating Reiterated at Berenberg Bank

Key Points

• Berenberg Bank reiterated a Buy rating on Wickes Group with a GBX 280 price target, implying about a 24.5% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst consensus is a "Moderate Buy" (four Buy, one Hold, one Sell) with an average price target of GBX 249.17 after recent target increases from Canaccord, Jefferies and Citigroup.
• Wickes trades near GBX 225 with a market cap of £506m, P/E ~13.7 and strong ROE (~29.5%), but carries a very high debt-to-equity ratio (~551.6) that investors should consider.

Wickes Group (LON:WIX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by stock analysts at Berenberg Bank in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,London Stock Exchange reports. They presently have a GBX 280 target price on the stock. Berenberg Bank's price objective indicates a potential upside of 24.49% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on WIX. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Wickes Group from GBX 250 to GBX 265 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Wickes Group from GBX 200 to GBX 227 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Wickes Group from GBX 275 to GBX 278 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Shore Capital Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Wickes Group in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of GBX 249.17.

Wickes Group Trading Up 1.8%

LON:WIX opened at GBX 224.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 551.57, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of £506.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.87. Wickes Group has a 52 week low of GBX 172.60 and a 52 week high of GBX 255. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 227.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 226.40.

Wickes Group (LON:WIX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 17th. The company reported GBX 17.40 EPS for the quarter. Wickes Group had a net margin of 2.35% and a return on equity of 29.52%. On average, equities analysts expect that Wickes Group will post 16.2278978 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wickes Group Company Profile

Wickes is one of the UK's best known home improvement retailers. Having opened our first store in 1972 we now have 228 stores across the UK, employing 7,400 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 £27 billion UK Home Improvement market. Over the past few years Wickes has consistently outperformed the market, growing share and delivering a CAGR growth rate double that of the market. At Wickes, we have a clear purpose, which is to ‘help the nation feel house proud', and we do this by focusing on our three customer segments - Local Trade, Do-it-for-me and DIY retail.

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