Beazley (LON:BEZ) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Beazley plc (LON:BEZ) reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as GBX 926.50 ($11.98) and last traded at GBX 926 ($11.97), with a volume of 14019370 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 916.54 ($11.85).

Beazley Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of GBX 862.66 and a 200-day moving average price of GBX 813.62. The firm has a market cap of £6.96 billion, a PE ratio of 5.67, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.68.

Beazley (LON:BEZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported GBX 137 ($1.77) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Beazley had a net margin of 22.82% and a return on equity of 32.60%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Beazley plc will post 101.6172507 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Beazley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a GBX 25 ($0.32) dividend. This is an increase from Beazley’s previous dividend of $14.20. This represents a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Beazley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.76%.

Beazley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, March 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Adrian Cox sold 27,772 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 902 ($11.66), for a total transaction of £250,503.44 ($323,857.07). Insiders own 2.31% of the company’s stock.

About Beazley

Beazley plc provides risk insurance and reinsurance solutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, and internationally. It operates through Cyber Risks, Digital, MAP Risks, Property Risks, and Specialty Risks segments. The Cyber Risk segment underwrites cyber and technology risks.