Empiric Student Property (LON:ESP) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Empiric Student Property Plc (LON:ESP)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as GBX 106.40 ($1.44) and last traded at GBX 105.20 ($1.43), with a volume of 2291635 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 97.30 ($1.32).

Empiric Student Property Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.27, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is GBX 89.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 85.66. The company has a market capitalization of £696.85 million, a PE ratio of 11.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.05.

Empiric Student Property (LON:ESP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, March 14th. The company reported GBX 4 ($0.05) EPS for the quarter. Empiric Student Property had a net margin of 65.69% and a return on equity of 7.23%. As a group, research analysts expect that Empiric Student Property Plc will post 5.330033 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Empiric Student Property Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 27th were given a dividend of GBX 1.08 ($0.01) per share. This is an increase from Empiric Student Property’s previous dividend of $0.88. This represents a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 27th. Empiric Student Property’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.92%.

Empiric Student Property Company Profile

Empiric Student Property plc is a leading provider and operator of modern, predominantly direct-let, premium student accommodation serving key UK universities.
Investing in both operating and development assets, Empiric is a fully integrated operational student property business focused on premium studio-led accommodation managed through its Hello Student® operating platform, that is attractive to affluent growing student segments.
The Company, an internally managed real estate investment trust (“REIT”) incorporated in England and Wales, listed on the premium listing segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and was admitted to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange in June 2014.