Spectris plc (LON:SXS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Spectris plc (LON:SXS) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is GBX 6,078.33 ($76.35).

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SXS. Numis Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 4,435 ($55.71) target price on shares of Spectris in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Berenberg Bank reduced their price objective on shares of Spectris from GBX 3,780 ($47.48) to GBX 3,520 ($44.22) and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Shore Capital lowered shares of Spectris to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Spectris to a “sell” rating and set a GBX 8,500 ($106.77) price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a GBX 4,250 ($53.39) price objective on shares of Spectris in a research report on Friday.

Spectris Stock Up 3.1 %

SXS opened at GBX 3,306 ($41.53) on Monday. Spectris has a fifty-two week low of GBX 2,917 ($36.64) and a fifty-two week high of GBX 3,883.85 ($48.79). The company has a market capitalization of £3.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 2,361.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.76, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is GBX 3,302.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is GBX 3,421.95.

Spectris Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a GBX 53.90 ($0.68) dividend. This is a positive change from Spectris’s previous dividend of $25.30. This represents a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Spectris’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5,642.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spectris

In other news, insider Derek Harding sold 1,909 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 3,201 ($40.21), for a total value of £61,107.09 ($76,758.06). Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Spectris Company Profile

Spectris plc provides precision measurement solutions worldwide. It operates through Spectris Scientific, Spectris Dynamics, and Other segments. The Spectris Scientific segment provides advanced sensors and instruments used to measure, analyze, and characterize materials; and monitor ultra-clean manufacturing environments.