Vertu Motors (LON:VTU) Trading Up 13.4% – Here’s Why

Vertu Motors plc (LON:VTU)’s stock price shot up 13.4% on Friday . The stock traded as high as GBX 73.10 and last traded at GBX 72. 23,841,576 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 2,839% from the average session volume of 811,164 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 63.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VTU. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Vertu Motors from GBX 78 to GBX 76 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Shore Capital Group restated a “house stock” rating on shares of Vertu Motors in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of GBX 76.

Vertu Motors Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is GBX 61.93 and its 200 day moving average is GBX 62.34. The stock has a market cap of £226.77 million, a PE ratio of 15.41 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 64.98, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Vertu Motors (LON:VTU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported GBX 4.62 EPS for the quarter. Vertu Motors had a net margin of 0.30% and a return on equity of 4.05%. The firm had revenue of GBX 483.38 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vertu Motors plc will post 8.9391576 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertu Motors

In related news, insider David Crane sold 1,041,147 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 65, for a total value of £676,745.55. Also, insider Karen Anderson sold 524,839 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 65, for a total transaction of £341,145.35. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,580,026 shares of company stock valued at $102,701,690. 4.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Vertu Motors

Vertu Motors plc operates as an automotive retailer in the United Kingdom. The company sells new and used cars and motorcycles, vans, motability cars, and commercial vehicles, as well as provides related aftersales services. It operates chain of franchised dealerships offering sales, service, parts, and bodyshop facilities for new and used cars, and commercial vehicles under the Bristol Street Motors, Macklin Motors, and Vertu Motors. The company's franchise dealerships include Audi, BMW, Honda, Jaguar, Jeep, Kia, Volvo, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG, MINI, smart, Volkswagen, Citroen, CUPRA, Dacia, DS, Ford, Hyundai, MG, Nissan, Peugeot, Renault, SEAT, SKODA, Vauxhall, Ford, Mazda, and Toyota.