Citigroup Lowers SSP Group (LON:SSPG) Price Target to GBX 350

SSP Group (LON:SSPG) had its target price decreased by equities research analysts at Citigroup from GBX 360 to GBX 350 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s price target suggests a potential upside of 89.60% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Peel Hunt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 275 price target on shares of SSP Group in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Berenberg Bank reiterated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 230 target price on shares of SSP Group in a report on Monday, January 19th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a GBX 180 price objective on shares of SSP Group in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Shore Capital restated a “house stock” rating on shares of SSP Group in a report on Monday, January 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of SSP Group from GBX 190 to GBX 170 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SSP Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of GBX 244.50.

SSP Group Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of SSP Group stock opened at GBX 184.60 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of GBX 184.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 169.10. The stock has a market cap of £1.46 billion, a PE ratio of -19.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.77 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 852.29. SSP Group has a 12-month low of GBX 134.10 and a 12-month high of GBX 212.20.

SSP Group (LON:SSPG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The company reported GBX 11 earnings per share for the quarter. SSP Group had a return on equity of 3.64% and a net margin of 0.24%. On average, research analysts anticipate that SSP Group will post 13.1004016 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SSP Group announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, October 9th that authorizes the company to buyback 0 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Geert Verellen purchased 41,006 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 181 per share, for a total transaction of £74,220.86. Also, insider Karina Deacon acquired 18,000 shares of SSP Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 171 per share, with a total value of £30,780. Insiders purchased 227,675 shares of company stock worth $38,884,478 in the last three months. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About SSP Group

SSP is a leading operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations worldwide, with c.37,000 colleagues in over 600 locations across 36 countries. We operate sit-down and quick service restaurants, cafes, lounges and food-led convenience stores, principally in airports and train stations, with a portfolio of more than 550 international, national and local brands. These include our own brands (such as UrbanCrave, which brought the first “street eats” concept to airports in the US, Nippon Ramen, a noodle and dumpling concept in the Asia Pac region, and Juniper, a premium bar in the UK) as well as franchise brands (such as M&S, Starbucks and Burger King).