Aviva (LON:AV) Stock Price Up 2.6% – What’s Next?

Aviva plc (LON:AV)’s share price shot up 2.6% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as GBX 608 ($8.15) and last traded at GBX 607.40 ($8.15). 12,021,676 shares changed hands during trading, The stock had previously closed at GBX 591.80 ($7.94).

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Aviva from GBX 615 ($8.25) to GBX 635 ($8.52) and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th.

Aviva Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is GBX 549.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is GBX 511.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 68.87, a current ratio of 2.93 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market cap of £16.32 billion, a PE ratio of 12.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.89.

Aviva (LON:AV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported GBX 23.60 ($0.32) EPS for the quarter. Aviva had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 3.52%. On average, research analysts expect that Aviva plc will post 46.4942529 earnings per share for the current year.

Aviva Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be paid a GBX 23.80 ($0.32) dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. This is a boost from Aviva’s previous dividend of $11.90. This represents a yield of 4.25%. Aviva’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.07%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Amanda Blanc sold 523,728 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 555 ($7.44), for a total value of £2,906,690.40 ($3,897,935.36). Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Aviva Company Profile

Aviva plc provides various insurance, retirement, investment, and savings products in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and internationally. The company offers life insurance, long-term health and accident insurance, savings, pension, and annuity products, as well as pension fund business and lifetime mortgage products.