Marks and Spencer Group (LON:MKS) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Marks and Spencer Group plc (LON:MKS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as GBX 418.32 and last traded at GBX 409.40, with a volume of 1287705750 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 410.10.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Marks and Spencer Group to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from GBX 440 to GBX 450 in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 435 price target on shares of Marks and Spencer Group in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 425 price objective on shares of Marks and Spencer Group in a report on Monday, May 18th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Marks and Spencer Group from GBX 410 to GBX 390 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Shore Capital Group restated a “house stock” rating on shares of Marks and Spencer Group in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of GBX 422.50.

Marks and Spencer Group Stock Up 0.6%

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 379.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 365.79. The firm has a market cap of £8.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 111.89, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Marks and Spencer Group (LON:MKS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 20th. The retailer reported GBX 23.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Marks and Spencer Group had a net margin of 1.50% and a return on equity of 8.86%. The firm had revenue of GBX 1,727.36 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts forecast that Marks and Spencer Group plc will post 26.0113154 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Alison Dolan sold 85,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 359, for a total value of £305,150. Also, insider Stuart Machin sold 560,402 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 384, for a total value of £2,151,943.68. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Marks and Spencer Group

M&S has a heritage of quality, innovation and value for money and has been voted the UK’s most trusted brand. From these foundations, M&S is reshaping for sustainable profitable growth and value creation.

We operate as a family of businesses, selling high-quality, great-value, own-brand products and services, alongside a carefully selected range of third-party brands. We do this through a network of stores and websites globally, and together, across our stores, support centres, warehouses and supply chain, our 65,000 colleagues serve over 30 million customers each year.