St. James’s Place (LON:STJ) Stock Price Down 13.4% – What’s Next?

St. James’s Place plc (LON:STJ)’s share price fell 13.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 1,243 and last traded at GBX 1,255. 9,472,512 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 29,336,307 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 1,449.

More St. James’s Place News

Here are the key news stories impacting St. James’s Place this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Some market commentators argue the sell-off looks overstretched and that STJ’s fundamentals and valuation (PE ~13.4) offer downside protection — suggesting any pullback could be buying opportunity. St. James Place share price dives amid AI disruption jitters
• Neutral Sentiment: News of Altruist’s AI launch is a clear industry development — it raises strategic questions for advisers but is early-stage; incumbents like STJ could adopt similar tech or differentiate on advice quality. St James’s Place, AJ Bell and other financial services giants hit by Altruist AI launch
• Negative Sentiment: Immediate market impact: STJ and peer European wealth managers have tumbled as investors price in higher competitive risk, potential fee compression and faster client acquisition by low-cost AI platforms — a near-term hit to sentiment and stock performance. St. James’s Place Leads European Wealth Managers’ Tumble on AI Threat

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STJ has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of St. James’s Place from GBX 1,160 to GBX 1,600 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on St. James’s Place from GBX 1,725 to GBX 1,726 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on St. James’s Place from GBX 1,350 to GBX 1,375 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a GBX 1,475 price objective on shares of St. James’s Place in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on St. James’s Place from GBX 1,590 to GBX 1,790 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 1,645.14.

St. James’s Place Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 55.10. The firm has a market capitalization of £6.58 billion, a PE ratio of 13.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day moving average of GBX 1,432.92 and a 200 day moving average of GBX 1,343.35.

About St. James’s Place

We plan, grow and protect the financial futures of over one million clients across the UK by providing holistic advice-led wealth management, delivered exclusively by the Partnership, our group of more than 4,900 highly skilled advisers.

We offer an integrated client proposition, through which we provide financial advice, investment product wrappers such as pensions, investment bonds and ISAs, and offer our own range of investment funds and portfolios.