St. James’s Place (LON:STJ) Shares Down 13.4% – Here’s What Happened

St. James’s Place plc (LON:STJ)’s share price was down 13.4% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 1,243 and last traded at GBX 1,255. Approximately 9,472,512 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily 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:

• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage questions whether the sell-off is an overreaction, noting short-term price volatility may reflect investor fear of AI disruption rather than immediate revenue impact; suggests longer-term fundamentals and client flows will determine outcomes. St. James Place share price dives amid AI disruption jitters: is this an irrational sell-off?
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Altruist, a low-cost AI wealth-platform entrant, has launched offerings that increase competition across advisers and platforms — the article lists St. James’s Place among established players at risk of margin and flow pressure if advisers or clients shift to cheaper, automated alternatives. St James’s Place, AJ Bell and other financial services giants hit by Altruist AI launch
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage highlights a broader sell-off across European wealth managers led by St. James’s Place after AI-threat headlines — investors are marking down incumbents on fears of disrupted distribution, fee compression and accelerated tech-driven disintermediation. St. James’s Place Leads European Wealth Managers’ Tumble on AI Threat

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on St. James’s Place from GBX 1,160 to GBX 1,600 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of St. James’s Place from GBX 1,725 to GBX 1,726 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of 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 set a GBX 1,475 price objective on shares of St. James’s Place in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on St. James’s Place from GBX 1,590 to GBX 1,790 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, St. James’s Place currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of GBX 1,645.14.

St. James’s Place Stock Down 13.4%

The firm has a market cap of £6.53 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 55.10, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 3.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of GBX 1,434.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 1,343.98.

St. James’s Place Company Profile

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.