Imperial Brands (LON:IMB) Sets New 1-Year High After Dividend Announcement

Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as GBX 1,962 ($24.64) and last traded at GBX 1,960 ($24.62), with a volume of 2969638 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 1,878.50 ($23.59).

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of GBX 22.45 ($0.28) per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. Imperial Brands’s payout ratio is 5,927.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a GBX 1,810 ($22.73) target price on shares of Imperial Brands in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of GBX 2,197 ($27.59).

Imperial Brands Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 1,773.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 1,811.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 157.30, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of £17.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 804.03, a P/E/G ratio of 17.80 and a beta of 0.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Lukas Paravicini sold 57,407 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 1,825 ($22.92), for a total transaction of £1,047,677.75 ($1,315,847.46). Company insiders own 7.19% of the company’s stock.

Imperial Brands Company Profile

Imperial Brands PLC, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, imports, markets, and sells tobacco and tobacco-related products in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. It offers a range of cigarettes, tobacco accessories, vapour, heated tobacco, and oral nicotine. The company sells its products under various brands, including JPS, Davidoff, Gauloises, West, Winston, Kool, Lambert & Butler, Fortuna, Nobel, News, Backwoods, Champion, Golden Virginia, Rizla, Blu, Pulze, Skruf, and Zone X.