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

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

Key St. James’s Place News

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

• Positive Sentiment: St. James’s Place remains a large, established UK wealth manager with a market cap of ~£6.5bn and a P/E around 13 — metrics that could help it absorb competitive shocks and reduce long‑term downside risk.
• Neutral Sentiment: Some commentators argue the recent sell‑off may be an overreaction, calling today’s drop “irrational” given the company’s fundamentals and the time it will take competitors to scale AI offerings. St. James Place share price dives amid AI disruption jitters
• Negative Sentiment: Altruist’s launch of an AI-driven wealth platform is being viewed as a direct competitive threat to traditional managers (including STJ), prompting investor fear about fee pressure and client outflows. St James’s Place, AJ Bell and other financial services giants hit by Altruist AI launch
• Negative Sentiment: St. James’s Place is leading a sectorwide decline among European wealth managers as markets reassess how quickly AI can displace parts of advisory and distribution, increasing near‑term volatility for STJ shares. St. James’s Place Leads European Wealth Managers’ Tumble on AI Threat

Analyst Ratings Changes

STJ has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of 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. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target 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. 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 note on Monday, October 20th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a GBX 1,475 price target on shares of St. James’s Place in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of St. James’s Place from GBX 1,725 to GBX 1,726 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, St. James’s Place presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of GBX 1,645.14.

St. James’s Place Trading Down 13.4%

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is GBX 1,432.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 1,343.35. The company has a quick ratio of 3.85, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 55.10. The firm has a market capitalization of £6.53 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.23.

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.