St. James’s Place plc (LON:STJ) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

St. James’s Place plc (LON:STJ – Get Rating) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is GBX 1,392.78 ($17.45).

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a GBX 1,570 ($19.67) price target on shares of St. James’s Place in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of St. James’s Place to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from GBX 1,390 ($17.41) to GBX 1,400 ($17.54) in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of St. James’s Place from GBX 1,340 ($16.79) to GBX 1,460 ($18.29) and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a GBX 1,430 ($17.91) target price on shares of St. James’s Place in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a GBX 1,300 ($16.28) price objective on shares of St. James’s Place in a report on Friday, February 10th.

St. James’s Place Price Performance

LON STJ opened at GBX 1,145 ($14.34) on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.25, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is GBX 1,179.44 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 1,183.60. St. James’s Place has a 52-week low of GBX 904.60 ($11.33) and a 52-week high of GBX 1,310 ($16.41). The company has a market cap of £6.28 billion, a PE ratio of 1,568.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.25.

St. James’s Place Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 4th will be given a GBX 37.19 ($0.47) dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 3.01%. This is a positive change from St. James’s Place’s previous dividend of $15.59. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 4th. St. James’s Place’s dividend payout ratio is 7,260.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at St. James’s Place

In related news, insider Andrew Croft sold 15,346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 1,176 ($14.73), for a total value of £180,468.96 ($226,066.59). Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

St. James’s Place Company Profile

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St. James's Place plc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm launches and manages equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds for its clients. It invests in public equity and fixed income market across the globe. The firm was formerly known as St. James's Place Capital plc. St.