Associated British Foods (LON:ABF) Announces Earnings Results

Associated British Foods (LON:ABF) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported GBX 174.90 EPS for the quarter, Digital Look Earnings reports. Associated British Foods had a net margin of 4.89% and a return on equity of 8.44%. The business had revenue of GBX 1,945.90 billion for the quarter.

Associated British Foods Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Associated British Foods stock traded down GBX 12.50 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching GBX 1,881.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,374,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,453,257. Associated British Foods has a one year low of GBX 1,729.45 and a one year high of GBX 2,359. The company has a market capitalization of £13.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is GBX 1,851.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 1,926.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.63, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.51.

Insider Buying and Selling at Associated British Foods

In other news, insider Loraine Woodhouse purchased 1,074 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of GBX 1,853 per share, with a total value of £19,901.22. 1.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Associated British Foods

Here are the key news stories impacting Associated British Foods this week:

• Positive Sentiment: UK competition authorities have approved ABF’s £75 million Hovis acquisition, clearing the way for the deal to close and boosting ABF’s strategic position in UK bread. ABF Receives Regulatory Clearance for Hovis Acquisition (ABF)
• Positive Sentiment: The merger would combine two major UK bakery brands and could create the country’s biggest bread business, potentially improving scale and pricing power. Kingsmill owner cleared to create UK’s biggest bread brand with Hovis takeover
• Neutral Sentiment: Citi also trimmed its price target on ABF and kept a sell rating, which may temper some of the optimism around the stock. Broker Views

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on ABF. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Associated British Foods to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from GBX 2,050 to GBX 1,850 in a report on Monday, April 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Associated British Foods from GBX 1,925 to GBX 1,850 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Associated British Foods from GBX 1,450 to GBX 1,410 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Associated British Foods from GBX 1,940 to GBX 1,780 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a GBX 1,650 price objective on shares of Associated British Foods in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of GBX 1,708.

Associated British Foods Company Profile

Associated British Foods is a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group with sales of £13.9bn, 128,000 employees and operations in 53 countries across Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia and Australia.

Our purpose is to provide safe, nutritious, affordable food, and clothing that is great value for money. With the breadth of our business, our brands and global reach, ABF aims to consistently deliver value to its stakeholders.

Our business is split into five segments: Grocery; Sugar; Agriculture; Ingredients; and Retail.