Diageo plc, together with its subsidiaries, produces, markets, and sells alcoholic beverages worldwide. The company offers scotch, whisky, gin, vodka, rum, ready to drink products, Irish cream liqueur, raki, liqueur, wine, tequila, Canadian whisky, American whiskey, cachaca, and brandy, as well as beer, including cider and non-alcoholic products. It provides its products under the Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Bulleit and Buchanan's whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Casamigos, DeLeon and Don Julio tequilas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Tanqueray, and Guinness brands. The company has operations in North America, Europe, Turkey, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company was incorporated in 1886 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Diageo from GBX 3,430 ($41.45) to GBX 5,040 ($60.90) and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 17th. Jefferies Financial Group set a GBX 4,500 ($54.37) price target on Diageo in a research report on Thursday, July 28th. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a GBX 4,150 ($50.14) price target on shares of Diageo in a research report on Tuesday, June 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group set a GBX 4,800 ($58.00) price target on Diageo in a research report on Friday, July 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a GBX 3,780 ($45.67) price target on Diageo in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of GBX 4,124 ($49.83).
Diageo Stock Up 0.4 %
Diageo stock opened at GBX 3,902.50 ($47.15) on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 176.36, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.53. The business's 50-day simple moving average is GBX 3,678.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 3,723.67. The company has a market cap of £88.92 billion and a PE ratio of 2,787.50. Diageo has a fifty-two week low of GBX 3,282.50 ($39.66) and a fifty-two week high of GBX 4,110 ($49.66).
Diageo Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 25th will be paid a dividend of GBX 46.82 ($0.57) per share. This represents a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 25th. This is an increase from Diageo's previous dividend of $29.36. Diageo's payout ratio is presently 52.82%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Diageo
In other news, insider Javier Ferrán purchased 234 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 3,541 ($42.79) per share, for a total transaction of £8,285.94 ($10,012.01). In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 685 shares of company stock worth $2,482,229.