J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) Shares Pass Above 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shares of J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of GBX 328.80 and traded as high as GBX 360.90. J Sainsbury shares last traded at GBX 358.84, with a volume of 13,637,116 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SBRY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 360 price target on shares of J Sainsbury in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Shore Capital Group reissued a “house stock” rating on shares of J Sainsbury in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a GBX 310 target price on shares of J Sainsbury in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 395 target price on shares of J Sainsbury in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of J Sainsbury from GBX 3,350 to GBX 3,300 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, J Sainsbury presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 847.50.

J Sainsbury Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of £7.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 315.80 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 328.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 107.33.

J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The grocer reported GBX 22.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. J Sainsbury had a return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 1.14%.The firm had revenue of GBX 3,364.70 billion during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that J Sainsbury plc will post 25.7241977 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Katie Bickerstaffe bought 4,297 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 347 per share, with a total value of £14,910.59. Also, insider Simon Roberts sold 197,186 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 328, for a total transaction of £646,770.08. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

About J Sainsbury

J Sainsbury plc is one of the UK’s leading food, general merchandise and clothing retailers.

Offering delicious, great quality food at competitive prices has been at the heart of what we do since we opened our first store in 1869. Today, inspiring and delighting our customers with tasty food remains our priority. Our purpose is that driven by our passion for food, together we serve and help every customer.

Our focus on great value food and convenient shopping, whether in-store or online is supported by our brands – Argos, Habitat, Tu, Nectar and Sainsbury’s Bank.