Wickes Group (LON:WIX) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Wickes Group plc (LON:WIX)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as GBX 223.50 ($3.03) and last traded at GBX 223.13 ($3.03), with a volume of 120601 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 219.50 ($2.98).

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on WIX. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Wickes Group from GBX 198 ($2.69) to GBX 250 ($3.39) and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Shore Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Wickes Group in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th.

Wickes Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 456.98, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 190.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 170.16. The company has a market cap of £528.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.78.

Wickes Group (LON:WIX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The company reported GBX 14.10 ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter. Wickes Group had a net margin of 2.01% and a return on equity of 19.39%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Wickes Group plc will post 16.2278978 EPS for the current year.

Wickes Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be paid a GBX 7.30 ($0.10) dividend. This represents a yield of 4.01%. This is a positive change from Wickes Group’s previous dividend of $3.60. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 24th. Wickes Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.93%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider David Wood sold 58,445 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 172 ($2.33), for a total value of £100,525.40 ($136,398.10). Company insiders own 7.16% of the company’s stock.

About Wickes Group

Wickes is one of the UK’s best known home improvement retailers. Having opened our first store in 1972 we now have over 230 stores across the UK, employing 8,500 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 £25 billion UK Home Improvement market.