Wickes Group (LON:WIX) Earns Buy Rating from Jefferies Financial Group

Wickes Group (LON:WIX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group in a research report issued on Tuesday,Digital Look reports. They presently have a GBX 278 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 55.31% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on WIX. Shore Capital Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Wickes Group in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Wickes Group from GBX 250 to GBX 265 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Citigroup increased their price target on Wickes Group from GBX 200 to GBX 227 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Berenberg Bank reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 280 price target on shares of Wickes Group in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of GBX 249.17.

Wickes Group Price Performance

Wickes Group stock opened at GBX 179 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 551.57. The company has a market capitalization of £398.95 million, a PE ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.88. Wickes Group has a 12 month low of GBX 178.56 and a 12 month high of GBX 255. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 216.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 225.47.

Wickes Group (LON:WIX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 17th. The company reported GBX 17.40 EPS for the quarter. Wickes Group had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 2.35%. Analysts expect that Wickes Group will post 16.2278978 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider David Wood sold 355,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 223, for a total value of £791,761.50. Also, insider Mark George sold 223,433 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 220, for a total value of £491,552.60. Corporate insiders own 0.39% 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 228 stores across the UK, employing 7,400 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 £27 billion UK Home Improvement market. Over the past few years Wickes has consistently outperformed the market, growing share and delivering a CAGR growth rate double that of the market.

At Wickes, we have a clear purpose, which is to ‘help the nation feel house proud’, and we do this by focusing on our three customer segments – Local Trade, Do-it-for-me and DIY retail.