Smiths Group plc (LON:SMIN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Smiths Group plc (LON:SMIN) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is GBX 3,090.

SMIN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Smiths Group from GBX 2,900 to GBX 2,750 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Smiths Group from GBX 3,500 to GBX 4,300 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Smiths Group from GBX 3,040 to GBX 2,830 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Smiths Group from GBX 2,950 to GBX 3,040 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th.

Smiths Group Stock Down 0.5%

LON:SMIN traded down GBX 13 on Thursday, reaching GBX 2,468. 2,609,085 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,719,281. The company has a current ratio of 3.04, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 73.19. The company has a market capitalization of £7.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.14, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 0.73. Smiths Group has a 12 month low of GBX 2,088 and a 12 month high of GBX 2,746. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is GBX 2,450.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 2,485.03.

Smiths Group (LON:SMIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The company reported GBX 62 earnings per share for the quarter. Smiths Group had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 13.71%. Equities analysts predict that Smiths Group will post 85.1295337 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Smiths Group

In other news, insider Alister Cowan acquired 5,000 shares of Smiths Group stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 2,268 per share, with a total value of £113,400. Also, insider Simon Pryce bought 206 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 2,532 per share, for a total transaction of £5,215.92. Insiders bought a total of 5,276 shares of company stock valued at $12,038,832 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

About Smiths Group

Smiths Group plc operates as an industrial engineering company in Americas, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates through four businesses: John Crane, Smiths Detection, Flex-Tek, and Smiths Interconnect. The John Crane business engineers mechanical seals, seal support systems, power transmission couplings, and specialized filtration systems. The Smiths Detection business provides sensors and systems that detect and identify explosives, narcotics, weapons, chemical agents, biohazards, and contraband.