Mears Group (LON:MER) Board Authorizes Share Buyback Plan

Mears Group (LON:MER) announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 1st, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback 0 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Mears Group Price Performance

Shares of Mears Group stock traded up GBX 5.50 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting GBX 332.50. 111,013 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 252,062. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 350.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of GBX 348.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 157.98, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of £274.01 million, a P/E ratio of 6.22, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.31. Mears Group has a 52 week low of GBX 310 and a 52 week high of GBX 421.37.

Mears Group (LON:MER) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The company reported GBX 55.70 earnings per share for the quarter. Mears Group had a return on equity of 23.94% and a net margin of 4.07%. Research analysts forecast that Mears Group will post 32.5150732 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MER. Panmure Gordon reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 499 price target on shares of Mears Group in a report on Monday, December 8th. Peel Hunt reiterated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 440 target price on shares of Mears Group in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Berenberg Bank reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 565 target price on shares of Mears Group in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mears Group presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of GBX 503.50.

About Mears Group

Mears Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides various outsourced services to the public and private sectors in the United Kingdom. The company offers rapid-response and planned maintenance services to local authorities; gas and repair services; and maintenance and repairs, capital works, energy investment, and regeneration solutions for public buildings, as well as grounds maintenance services. It provides housing management services, which include supply of affordable homes to public and private sectors; emergency and temporary accommodation services; affordable housing/social housing management; housing with care services; private rented sector; stock acquisition; mears housing solutions; and housing services to central government departments.