Paragon Banking Group (LON:PAG) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Paragon Banking Group PLC (LON:PAG) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as GBX 898.50 ($11.96) and last traded at GBX 894.50 ($11.90), with a volume of 50423 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 889 ($11.83).

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Shore Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Paragon Banking Group in a report on Thursday, April 10th.

Paragon Banking Group Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 779.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 756.67. The firm has a market cap of £1.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.52.

Paragon Banking Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a GBX 27.20 ($0.36) dividend. This is a boost from Paragon Banking Group’s previous dividend of $13.20. This represents a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Paragon Banking Group’s payout ratio is currently 43.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Peter Hill bought 159 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 740 ($9.85) per share, for a total transaction of £1,176.60 ($1,565.88). Also, insider Richard Woodman bought 2,193 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 746 ($9.93) per share, for a total transaction of £16,359.78 ($21,772.40). Insiders purchased a total of 2,810 shares of company stock worth $2,082,024 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.59% of the company’s stock.

Paragon Banking Group Company Profile

Paragon is a specialist banking group. It offers a range of savings accounts and provide finance for landlords and small
and medium-sized businesses (‘SMEs’) and residential property developers in the UK. Founded in 1985 and listed on the
London Stock Exchange, it is a FTSE-250 company. Headquartered in Solihull, it employs more than 1,400 people.